Challenge
by GGfanatic
Summary: Trory Tristan was gone for a year or so and his only communication with Rory during that time was letters, emails, and phone calls. somehow they survived and now he is back. how curvy will their road get?
1. Bible Insults

AN: hey ok I am a huge believer that dean and rory should b together but I thought a Tristan rory story (oh that rhymes lol) would be more fun to right and easier to come up with an original plot once the story develops. This is my 2nd fanfic and 1st troy so I hope u like.  
P.S. ok that means changing points of view but around the same time and means time has passed/later and italics is usually thoughts and um I think that's it I hope its not too confusing so please read and review and be honest!   
  
Let's face it. Tristan Dugray was bored out of his mind. Sure he had tons of money and the power to make almost any girl fall at his feet. He had anything he wanted that money could by. He had dated almost every girl in his year and some above and below, but he wasn't satisfied. What he needed was a challenge, what it was he had no idea or how hard it would be.   
  
That's when she entered the classroom and his life.   
  
A couple months into the school year and I am transferring to one of the toughest but best prep schools in the area! Rory Gilmore thought as she put on her new school uniform. She looked very smart in the plaid skirt which fell just above her knees and navy blazer with the Chilton seal. She must have just stood there and stared at her reflection in the mirror for at least 10 minutes before she heard her mother call and tell her they had to go. Here goes nothing she thought as her and her mother got into the car. Her mother, Lorelai, handed her daughter a to-go cup of coffee.  
  
"Here" Lorelai said "don't worry you are going to do great"  
Rory mumbled thanks and something else that was inaudible.   
  
As they pulled up to the menacing school then sat in silence for a few minutes.   
  
At last Lorelai spoke "I don't remember it being this...large"  
  
"Or as 'off with their heads'"Rory replied.   
  
After they met with the headmaster and had a surprise visit from Emily, Lorelai's mother, rory was on her way to her first class.   
  
English with max media her schedule read   
  
She was early for class so she found a seat in one of the first couple rows. As class began a rather attractive dirty blonde sauntered in with out a care in the world.   
  
"Late again Mr. Dugray...please find a seat immediately." Mr. Medina said   
  
"Yes sir" Tristan said with a mock salute. As he passed Rory's desk he gave her a once over and found a seat which just happened to have a good view of her.   
  
"Class we have a new student from..." he looked down at his desk at a file "from Stars Hallow High, every one this is rory Gilmore, please stand"   
  
She reluctantly stood and looked around the room and all the glaring eyes which seemed to be asking her a million questions. "Hi" she muttered weekly.   
  
"You may have a seat, so anyways to pick up from yesterdays lecture..." he continued on and rory attempted to listen and take notes but she felt she was being stared at and low and behold the one who was late was staring at her. When the bell finally rang she heard him say to one of his friends  
  
"I think we have ourselves a Mary" and then he was off.   
  
The rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully and when the final bell rang she was overjoyed. On her way out she heard someone say   
"See you later Mary" and she muttered back "the name is rory" but she was sure it wasn't heard.   
  
Her mom was there to pick her up and they headed home to Luke's. When they arrived they ordered coffee and after much debate he gave in while rory filled her mom in on the day's events.   
  
"Oh my God, I can't believe they still say that" Lorelai commented when rory told her about the whole Mary thing.  
  
"What does it mean?"  
  
"Like the virgin Mary, they think you look innocent and untouched"  
  
"What would they say if they thought I was a slut?"  
  
"They may have added a Magdalene to it"  
  
"Wow bible insults this school is advanced" the laughed and headed home.   
  
When rory woke up she got ready and went to the bus stop to await her ride to her new school for another day... 


	2. Tease and Torture

AN: ok hey, the people who reviewed: thank you so much is gives me inspiration and makes me want to continue. Although I only got 2 so far I am hoping people with take the time to review, if not I probably wont continue like my last story, people just didn't review and so I thought if they can't be bothered to write a few words why should I write chapters. But if anyone wants to use my other story and continue that feel free, just email me if you do. And ideas are ALWAYS! Welcome! That's all for now!  
  
Rating: right now its only like PG but I set it at PG-13 just in case and later as the story progresses it will get there.  
  
FYI: ok I'm sure you all know this but I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of the characters of the plot! It would be totally awesome if I did because I am a die-heart fan but I don't so I got to get used to that but anyways now we all know so I'm not going to bother to put that at the beginning of every chapter.  
  
AN P.S. ok sorry one more thing, thought you should know, I know I am following the shows plot right now but that's just for now as Rory gets settled in to Chilton and everyone gets the relationship between Rory and Tristan in this fanfic. Hope you still read! Enjoy!  
  
As Rory was walking into school that morning heading to her locker to exchange some books she heard someone yelling "Mary" and trying to catch up with her. When he finally did she replied "the name is Rory!"  
  
He ignored her comment and said "nice to meet you Mary, Tristan..." he said and did a little bow. By then Rory had gotten what she needed and was heading off to class but Tristan followed.  
  
"what do you want?" she said bitterly  
  
"why Mary wasn't that a little harsh?" he quipped. She let out a heavy sigh and began to walk faster but so did he. "where are you in such a rush to get to?"  
  
"away from you" to stated blandly  
  
"ouch you really know how to hurt a guy." He said pretending to be hurt and for extra emphasis he put his hand to his heart.  
  
"oh god, you are so pathetic!" she answered as they reached her class which just happened to be his too. They both walked in and Tristan waited for her to take her seat, which was near the front, so he could find a seat with a good view of her.  
  
Tristan couldn't help but stare at her through most of the class, he had even been caught once by the teacher. When the bell finally rang on his way out he said to her "see you later, Mary."  
  
"the name is Rory" she muttered  
  
Things like this went on for rest of the week, tons of notes, tests, and homework. Of course there was also plenty of taunting and torturing by Tristan. She found him so infuriating!  
  
"so today he was waiting for me by my locker just to annoy me!" Rory told her mother as they sat at the counter at Luke's gulping down coffee.  
  
"he has a thing for you" Lorelai stated bluntly  
  
"what Tristan? NO! he just tried to come up with new ways to make that school a living hell, anlong with Paris, who still hates my guts for no real reason!"  
  
"he has a thing for you, and what about paris? Who is she, the one who claims she is going to be the editor of the 'Franklin' and valedictorian?"  
  
"the one and only" then she thought for a minute "he does not have a thing for me!"  
  
"whatever you say"  
  
Tristan lay on his bed in the mansion he had to call home, thinking about none other than Rory. He wasn't sure why when he was around her he seemed to act like he was in third grade, he knew she didn't like it or him for that matter, she was the only girl he had met that didn't melt at his feet and this fascinated him, and so did she.  
  
As Rory got on to the bus and Tristan in to his fancy car, they both were on their way to school.  
  
AN: ok I know I know this chapter was kind of a nothing chapter but some things had to happen and it was either me continue now that day and have it be rather long which I'm sure you wouldn't have minded but wouldn't have been as good or nothing at all for a few more days. And I think since I just posted the first chapter yesterday that this was very quick and is better then nothing.  
  
So PLEASE REVIEW! Its not hard! 


	3. Almost Confessions

AN: thank you guys soooooooooo much for all the reviews, it makes me very happy and want to write more! So keep them coming. Jakki- thanks for the idea that will definitely be taken into consideration and now I have a plan thanks! Ok so I'm going to try and make the chapters longer and the will be as the story continues I just wanted to get something up so I can work more on my original plot now that you get the gist of the characters, though I'm sure if you are reading this you watch Gilmore Girls (if you don't you should!) so anyways enough of me rambling and on with the story!  
  
As Rory walked into the looming school, which was supposed to giver her great knowledge and help her get into the school of her dreams, none other than Tristan fell into step beside her.  
  
"hey, Rory how are you this fine morning?" he said in his politest tone  
  
She was taken aback by her real name falling from his lips that it took her a moment to regain control and answer "um fine..." she stammered "you?"  
  
"lovely, thank you" he gave her a charming smile and continued "I'll see you in class" and he walked towards a group of his friends.  
  
Rory was shocked by this whole encounter. How can he go from the Spawn of Satan to a charming gentleman over night? She shook her head confused and went to her locker then headed off to class where Tristan sat right next to her usual seat. As she sat down he just smiled at her and returned his attention back to what appeared to be notes from yesterdays lecture. She was surprised to learn he actually paid attention to the class and not just the girls sitting around him. Maybe he isn't as bad as I thought, oh my god, no I did not just think that! Rory was in the middle of deep thoughts when the teacher walked in and began talking about a new project.  
  
Something about Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet. She didn't really pay attention till she heard him say "I will be assigning groups and each group will get a scene from Romeo and Juliet to be acted out for the class. It will be due in a couple of weeks."  
  
Oh no with my luck ill be with Paris and Tristan, ug Rory have thought half muttered to herself.  
  
As Mr. Medina began to read of groups Rory hoped for a good one.  
  
"Paris, Madeline, Brad, Louise, Rory, and....Tristan, you will be doing the death scene."  
  
Oh joy, what a great group! Rory thought sarcastically well he was really nice this morning maybe he got some sense knocked into him, ahh stop doing that, shut up brain!  
  
This is my chance to show Rory im not a total asshole, ill be the perfect gentleman. Tristan thought.  
  
"ok, everyone get with their groups and start planning your scene."  
  
Of course Paris was anything but overjoyed as she took charge of the group and was saying they were doing a classic theme for their scene.  
  
"Brad your Romeo" Paris said as he sat there looking nervous afraid to argue.  
  
"I think Tristan should be Romeo" Louise piped in "he's perfect for that part" she continued eying him up and down, he couldn't help but smirk.  
  
"I agree I'm not good in front of crowds" Brad persisted.  
  
"We need someone dependable who is here everyday" Paris ranted "and how do we know he will even do it" she went on talking like he wasn't there.  
  
"I'll do it" Tristan said mid rant  
  
"What?" Paris said shocked  
  
"You heard me, ill be Romeo."  
  
"You promise you will be there and at rehearsals?"  
  
"Cross my heart!" Tristan mocked crossing his heart with his hand for emphasis.  
  
Paris let out a heavy groan but then continued with the 'casting'.  
  
"Rory, you'll be Juliet."  
  
"What? Me? NO! I um I can't..." Rory stammered.  
  
"yes you can, and you will, you are good at public speaking and look the part."  
  
Rory knew there was no getting around this so she mumbled and annoyed fine as Paris assigned the rest of the group their parts.  
  
Well, well, well my Mary will be Juliet to my Romeo, oh how perfect this will be. Tristan thought smugly to himself but only showing a small smile to the others.  
  
They worked on the script and other details through the rest of the period and the rest of the day went by uneventfully until lunch.  
  
Rory was sitting alone, with her walkman and book as usual when someone came over and sat down. She didn't even realize till they spoke.  
  
"its rude to ignore people"  
  
Rory jumped, Tristan of course "sorry... I didn't realize you were there..." she managed to get out.  
  
"You know, I don't get why we aren't friends"  
  
"Maybe because you are a self centered jerk who can't learn my name!" and with that she walked away before he had a chance to respond.  
  
That went well he watched her walk away. He figured she would be going to the library and decided to follow.  
  
"Rory..." he said softly sitting down next to her once relocating her in the library. "See I know your name"  
  
"Very funny"  
  
"Rory please I'm trying ---"  
  
She cut him off "trying to do what, annoy me more? Make this school a living hell? Please tell me what you are trying to do?" she said in a louder voice then intended, some others started to look at them.  
  
"Come with me" he said softly  
  
"Come where?" anger still apparent in her voice.  
  
"Outside where we can talk...in private" he gestured towards their onlookers.  
  
"Oh," she saw what he was referring to "I guess"  
  
He led her outside to a bench so they could talk.  
  
"Ok we are here what do you have to say?"  
  
"I'm trying ---"  
  
She cut him off again "more with the trying..." she muttered but still loud enough for him to hear.  
  
"Damn it Rory! I'm trying to tell you the truth for once!" he was yelling, much louder than intended. He noticed tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," her tears began to fall "please Rory, please don't cry." Right then of all times the bell rang and she ran off to class.  
  
"shit" he muttered to himself before he too went to class. 


	4. Sorry

**AN: ok well 1st of all im very sry i havent updated in like forever but i went on vacation then i was either busy with friends or working on redoing my room so yea. and the reason i care about reviews is if i didnt get any i would think people werent reading my story so i wouldnt post it anymore. and so i wrote some what i believe to be great chapters but they are for much later into the story humph how annoying lol. im not quite sure what to do with the story right now so help and suggestions are very welcomed! **

tristan was very annoyed. he had finally got the courage to tell rory his true feelings and then he just had to yell at her. and that damn bell. ahh! he didnt know what to do with himself anymore. he didnt think he could tell her now and ug they have that project to do and hes romeo and shes juilette. kinda ironic if you think about it.

rory didnt know what to think. she kinda felt bad for being so rude but she felt he deserved it the way he treated her. but she really wanted to know what he wanted to tell her so badly. she saw a look in his eyes she hadnt seen before, one of sincerity and truth, it puzzled her. she couldnt focus for the rest of the day, thoughts of him constantly running through her mind. _ug we have to rehearse for our "play" after school. _

when the day finally ended and she was heading out to the bus stop paris came charging up behind her.

"rory, we need to practice in stars hallow, at um..." she glanced at a piece of paper she was holding "miss pattys dance studio?"

"wha- what? why?"

"idiots, took our previous rehearsal spot and so i decided to move it there"

"dont i get a say in this?"

"say all u want but its there, this evening at 5:30, dont be late" and with that she walked off.

_great, just fantastic._ rory thought as she sat down to wait for her bus and pulled out a book and attempted to drown out reality when Tristan came over and sat down beside her but didnt say a word so she pretended to keep reading even though she could no longer concintrate not that she was having much luck before.

"hey" he finally said

"uh...hi"

"um about earlier--"

"no it was my fault i was rude"

"no seriously i shouldnt have snapped at you like that."

"its fine, dont worry about it."

"ok good. well um that thing i wanted to talk to you about..." he trailed off as he saw her beging to stand up

"im sorry i have to go my bus is here"

he was about to offer to give her a ride home but she was already boarding the bus so he slumped back to his car very unsatisfied with his day.

**AN again: ok i kno that was unbelievbly short and pointless but i had to put something up to show im alive. and i just dont know how to go from here so please give me ideas and review! **


	5. Fan Club

**AN: ok I know it's been a long time since I updated and I am very sorry but I when I actually had the time to write I have no ideas and then school started again and I have been very busy with that and some other things. I will try to update more often but I'm not making any promises but I will try! And I came up with some very good chapters but again, I can't put them up for quite some time so I'm working my way to get the story to that point. Ideas are always welcome and very greatly appreciated!!! Ok enough of my rambling and on with the story! **

Paris arrived annoyingly on time and the rest sauntered in a good 15 minutes later. They started rehearsing almost immediately after everyone arrived due to Paris's persisting manor.

TRISTAN: Here's to my love. Oh true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Line?

PARIS: Thus with a kiss, I die. How hard is that to remember?

TRISTAN: Thus with a kiss, I die. Right. And then I kiss her, right?

PARIS: Yes. You say 'Thus with a kiss, I die.' Then you kiss her and die. Why are you smiling? You think this is a joke? The performance is this weekend!

TRISTAN: Wait, really? Oh my God. I totally missed it the first 47 times you said it.

PARIS: I warned you. I am not going to fail this because of you. I will replace you with Brad in a second.

BRAD: Oh, dear God, no.

RORY: Can we just get through the scene?

MADELINE: Please.

PARIS: Fine. But yell line once more and you're out. Start memorizing.

TRISTAN: Oh true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss, I die.

Rory sits up for a minute after Tristan just stops.

PARIS: Rory, lie down, you're dead.

LOUISE: We all are.

RORY: I need to take five.

PARIS: You know what? Let's all take five. That way you can all cancel whatever plans you had tonight because we are staying here until we get this right.

Brad pulls out his cell phone

LOUISE: "Who could you possibly be calling?" she says as she pulls out her own phone and begins to dial.

Rory walks to the door and leans on the frame and watches Tristan talk on the phone.

"No, I cant" he pauses "I'm working on something for school, fine ill be there as soon as I can." With a heavy sigh he hangs up and turns around to see Rory staring at him. "Yes Mary? Do you want something or are you just admiring my good looks?"

"Breaks over"

"To bad, because I have to go." And he starts to leave

"Tristan, wait"

"Yes?"

"You somehow managed to become Romeo, despite Paris's protests and then you are just going to leave during practice? The performance is this weekend Tristan; I thought you were smart enough to have heard it at least one time out of the 48 times Paris told you. This is pathetic Tristan, I know you don't care much about your grades, or at least not lately but the rest of us do and we shouldn't all be punished because you have to rush of to your fan club, and I'm sure they could wait by the way."

"Yes, they probably could, not that they would want to, but my dad apparently can't. Look, I really wish we could continue your analysis on how pathetic I am but I have to go." And with that he walked to his car got in and drove away.

"Where is he going" Paris yelled coming towards her in a huff "please tell me he is coming back!"

"Um I don't think he is" Rory mumbled

"You just let him leave! Why did he leave anyways? I'm sure his fans could have waited!"

"but apparently his father can't." Rory responded slightly baffled by the fact that she was repeating his words. Paris watched her walk back towards the building her anger fuming. Rory stopped and turned around and said "well we shouldn't stop just because Tristan left"

"He is Romeo! Its Romeo and Juliet!" Paris screeched "without him its just Juliet! And then we fail!"

"Paris calm down, breathe! Get Brad to read his lines, then he will know them just in case also."

"I guess it will have to do." She hugged and they went back to rehearsal.

After they finished, which didn't go all to smoothly due to Paris's attitude, which was because of Brad, who had stumbled over almost every line. Rory climbed into bed and began to read but her thoughts drifted to rehearsal. Rory was a little upset if not disappointed that Tristan just left knowing perfectly well how Paris would react especially after he promised he wouldn't flake out. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind. She picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" the person answered.

"Hi...."

**AN: hmm did she really call Tristan? LOL, mwhahaha I've got the power! Ok just kidding well I do but I won't use it for evil. Anyways I wrote part of the next chapter already so it should be up in the nearish future. Sorry for the delay for this one. Please review! And ideas again are always welcomed and very much encouraged. Reviews help me update because if no one reviews then I think no one is reading it so I think why bother updating. So please review! Also it was going to be longer but I decided this was a good place to end...now people will want to know about the phone conversation so yea. REVIEW PLEASE!**


	6. Hang Up

**AN: ok so this chapter was part of the other but I separated them because the following chapter may take a while because it's more complex and I want it to be just right. Also I thought it was better this way. So anyways please review! And thank you to all that did! And sorry if there is a different day he says he will see Rory in this one, but in order for my plans to work they have to have school the next day so pretend they had rehearsal and the phone call on Thursday night. Thanks and sorry for any confusion. **

_**Previously: **_

"_You really should be more considerate --" _

_Rory cut him off when he took a breath "you're one to talk" _

"_Excuse me?"_

"_You are always making rude remarks and putting other people down, tossing them around like they are nothing!"_

_Tristan wanted to apologize for everything he had put her through but instead chose to go back to being a five year old. "well what if it was really something important, and then you yelled at me and it turned out it was an emergency what would you do then?"_

"_Well was it?"_

"_Was it what?"_

"_An emergency!"_

"_Well no..." _

"_So then why did you leave?" she asked once again._

"_As much as I would adore to stay and continue this lovely conversation--" _

_Rory cut him off "then finish--"_

_This time he cut her off "But," he put a lot of emphasis on the word "I have to go, I will see you Tomorrow." And with that he hung up. _

Rory was flabbergasted, why she didn't know, that was just so typical Tristan. But he just hung up. The nerve, she couldn't believe that the play was that weekend too. Rory felt a little bad about a few of the comments she made but again she didn't know why, he was always making rude comments to her and basically being a jerk, she should be glad she finally stood up to him, but she wasn't. She decided not to dwell on it and let it go for now, at least until Sunday when she would see him again. She went to go say goodnight to her mom.

"Mom?!?" Rory yelled

"Upstairs!" Lorelai yelled back.

Rory walked up the stairs "just wanted to say goodnight."

"Night sweetie" Rory kissed her mom and started to leave. "Hey, honey?"

"Yah?"

"Are you okay? You seem kind of preoccupied."

"Oh, it's nothing"

"Rory, I know you are lying, come on you can tell me."

"It's Tristan."

"Uh-huh, what did he do now?" Lorelai said knowingly.

Rory slightly glares at her mom before answering "he has just been acting strangely"

"Like how?"

"Well we had rehearsal for the whole Romeo and Juliet thing and we took a break and he got a phone call." Rory took a breath.

"Wow that is strange!" Lorelai gasped

"Mom, I wasn't done."

"Oh, right continue."

"So anyways, I hear him say he will be right there and I tell him breaks over and he says he has to go, I make some comment about how his fans can wait and he says yah, probably but his dad can't. Then he just leaves!"

"Huh," was Lorelai's only response.

"I know! So then I called him later and--"

"Wait, hold it right there, you called him?!?"

"Um yah, so anyways--"

"Like on the phone?" Lorelai interjects

"Yes, that is generally how you _call _someone!"

"Right, okay sorry, so you called him...so how did that go?"

"He kept avoiding the question. Then he said he had to go and that he would see me tomorrow. Then he just hung up! I am really worried about him; I mean why is he being so secretive about why he left? And if it really was because of his dad what happened? Is his dad or another family member sick? Did he have urgent news?"

"Whoa, Rory honey, calm down there, I thought he was the evil one, bible boy, spawn of Satan?"

"Well yah, but he seemed kind of different for a while and then this. I don't know what to do. We have the performance on Sunday and I don't want it to be weird."

"Okay, I can see you are very concerned but I'm sure he will tell you in his own time if it's important."

"I guess, well I'm going to go to bed, night mom."

"Night sweetie" Her mom responded as Rory left and closed the door. Rory sighed and went into her room and fell asleep, putting all her doubts and suspicions aside for the time being.

**AN: ok so I hope this was a good chapter, I know not much excitement but just wait for what comes next, again sorry for any date confusion but as I said it had to be Thursday because they had to go to school before the play. The next chapter should be up by next Wednesday or that Saturday I am trying to get it just right because it is very important. So please bare with me and REVIEW!!!! PLEASE! **


	7. Never Say Goodbye For Good

**AN: ok well here is the next chapter...I have chapter eight, nine, and part of ten written they just need to be typed so if I don't have a lot of homework they will get typed quickly and posted fairly often (most likely within 3-4 days or a week at the longest) but only if I get review, I've been getting very few and then I have no motivation to type and write them faster. I do want to thank those who always take the time to review! And now what you have all been waiting for...!**

Rory's alarm went off very sharply Friday morning. She groaned as she rolled out of bed and took a shower. She put on her uniform and went to Luke's to get coffee before school.

"Hey Luke" Rory greeted

"Hey Rory"

"Coffee to go please"

"It's going to kill you" he mumbled as he handed her the coffee.

"Thanks Luke" she said as she went to catch her bus.

When she arrived at school there was much more whispering than usual. She ignored it as she went o her locker to exchange some books.

"So have you heard the news?" Louise, Chilton's gossip queen said.

"No, but I'm dieing to hear, fill me in" Madeline responded.

Rory was just about to tune out when she heard Tristan's name, frankly she didn't know why she cared at all but she was very intrigued.

"Well apparently he really ticked the old man off and is being--"

Rory didn't get to hear the rest as the bell sounded and they walked off towards class. _Damn bells _she thought _they must have some sort of conspiracy against me_. She made her way to class. The day creeped by slowly and soon lunch rolled around and she hadn't seen even a glimpse of Tristan. She wandered down the hallway towards her locker completely lost in her thoughts when she tripped over a book that lay askew in the middle of the pathway. Rory mumbled something under her breath about why there was a book in the hallways when the book owner tried to suppress a chuckle which fortunately went unnoticed by her due to her daze as she tried to get up.

"Oh I'm sorry must of dropped it." They said. Rory immediately recognized the voice and almost stumbled back down to the ground by the shock but he caught her just in time. She stared straight into his eyes, though only for a slip second before he looked away. She noticed that the usual glee and carelessness that usually lay in his piercing blue eyes was gone and instead replaced by one of sadness, regret, longing and somehow even anger all swirled together in an awkward mix. After a moment they both snapped out of their haze and he picked up the book and continued his task.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked

"I thought you were smart" he joked, she gave him a look that meant she was serious and not in the mood for his games and teasing, for once he got the message "I'm emptying my locker"

"I can see that, I meant more like why?"

"Cause I'm leaving, haven't you heard?" he said shocked that she didn't know, sure he knew that she ignored most gossip but surely she would have heard news as big as this no matter how hard she tried to ignore the chitchat about the newest scandals. He looked at her and she looked completely and truly confused so he continued "I'm being shipped of to military school."

"Wha-um- wh-" she could barely speak "why?" she finally managed to choke out.

He threw a few more things into a box. "Honestly?" he threw the last few things out of his locker and slammed it shut. "I have no fucking clue! My dad is just afraid I'll get in the way of his business deals or embarrass the family. Does he even know what family is? Family loves you and treats you with respect and is there for you when you need them! They don't send you to damn military school in fucking North Carolina for no damn reason! I hate my father! I guess I should be happy; at least I don't have to live with him anymore! But I'm sure you are overjoyed, knowing I will soon be gone and out of your way." He said that with sadness seeping through his voice. "I'm only going to miss two things, my grandfather and..." he paused and gazed straight in her bright blue dazzling eyes "and--"he was cut off very abruptly.

"Tristan, lets go now!" he father yelled.

"Look I got to go, take care of yourself _Mary_" he winked as he put extra emphasis on the last word. He picked up his box hastily and walked off slowly, going over everything he had done and said to her, regretting most of it and sad that he would probably never get the chance to make it right with her.

As Rory watched him walk away she noticed something fall from his box. She picked it up and read the writing on it; it was a poem, a very familiar one. She remembered they had learned it in class in tenth grade. She flipped it over and gasped, it was a picture of her; millions of thoughts crossed her mind with the speed of light. All she knew was that they were right, everyone was right! She had about thirty seconds to do what she knew she had to do. She quickly scribbled something under the poem on the opposite side as the picture. Just then the bell rang. She thought _you damn bells aren't getting in my way again today_. And with that she was out the door.

**AN: ok I know so evil, see I could have ended the story completely in two different spots but I decided I wouldn't be even and plus I already wrote more chapters which I think will be very good :-D. Also if I was reading this story I would be very mad if it ended like this. PLEASE REVIEW! If I don't get at least like 10 reviews I won't update for a while! So do your part and review! **


	8. Don't Forget Me

**AN: ok so I just posted chapter seven and then I come back today (the next day) and I already have seven reviews! It made me so happy I felt I had to update right away! LilyLOVESwb, ok yes you made some great points and I would still update it I got eight reviews or even just one! Its just without them I take longer because I loose my inspiration and motivation, and ok I didn't meant to make it sound like I was threatening you guys, as Lily pointed out but I just wanted some feedback even if it just says good chapter or that sucked! I appreciate all the good and the bad reviews, I just like getting them. If I said its not quantity its quality then I would be contradicting myself (my previous statement) so yea, but of course review with more thought put in and input or ideas are always more appreciated and I will be sure to let you guys know. And yes, I do have a dazzling plan TiCkLeDpInK22 Lol, ok now enough of my Rory like rambling and on with the story, I'm sure you will enjoy this chapter!**

Recap:

"_Cause I'm leaving, haven't you heard?" he said shocked that she didn't know, sure he knew that she ignored most gossip but surely she would have heard news as big as this no matter how hard she tried to ignore the chitchat about the newest scandals. He looked at her and she looked completely and truly confused so he continued "I'm being shipped of to military school."_

"_Wha-um- wh-" she could barely speak "why?" she finally managed to choke out. _

_He threw a few more things into a box. "Honestly?" he threw the last few things out of his locker and slammed it shut. "I have no fucking clue! My dad is just afraid I'll get in the way of his business deals or embarrass the family. Does he even know what family is? Family loves you and treats you with respect and is there for you when you need them! They don't send you to damn military school in fucking North Carolina for no damn reason! I hate my father! I guess I should be happy; at least I don't have to live with him anymore! But I'm sure you are overjoyed, knowing I will soon be gone and out of your way." He said that with sadness seeping through his voice. "I'm only going to miss two things, my grandfather and..." he paused and gazed straight in her bright blue dazzling eyes "and--"he was cut off very abruptly._

"_Tristan, lets go now!" he father yelled._

"_Look I got to go, take care of yourself Mary" he winked as he put extra emphasis on the last word. He picked up his box hastily and walked off slowly, going over everything he had done and said to her, regretting most of it and sad that he would probably never get the chance to make it right with her. _

_As Rory watched him walk away she noticed something fall from his box. She picked it up and read the writing on it; it was a poem, a very familiar one. She remembered they had learned it in class in tenth grade. She flipped it over and gasped, it was a picture of her; millions of thoughts crossed her mind with the speed of light. All she knew was that they were right, everyone was right! She had about thirty seconds to do what she knew she had to do. She quickly scribbled something under the poem on the opposite side as the picture. Just then the bell rang. She thought you damn bells aren't getting in my way again today. And with that she was out the door. _

"Tristan!" Rory yelled "TRISTAN" she tried again louder this time.

Tristan was walked to the car when he heard someone yelling his name; he stopped dead in his tracks as he turned around looking very puzzled. Rory was running towards him with a piece of paper.

"Tristan..." she breathed when she finally reached him.

"Wha--" she cut him off very apparently as he lips came crashing down on his and her arms coiled around his neck and into his hair. He kissed her back completely shocked and wondering if this was really happening. When they finally broke apart due to lack of air she whispered sexily in his ear.

"I should have listened they were all right" she said with a double meaning "never forget me and use this." And with that she handed him back the photo and walked away smiling sadly. He looked down to see what she had given him and gasped as he saw it was the picture he had had in his locker, he flipped it over to reveal the all to familiar poem. But this time below it in her neat handwriting was he phone number, address, and email. He pondered what she had meant when she had said "I should have listened to them, they were all right."

He yelled at her retreating figure "I never could, even if I tried and don't worry I definitely will!" she couldn't help but break out into a big grin as his words reached her ears, but soon tears began to fall. She realized she may never see him again and that was the best kiss of her life, it was then that she realized that not only was everyone right about him liking her but her mom was right when she said she had liked him too. She then became conscious that it was anything but hate she felt for Tristan and that she had crossed that thin like between love and hate, she just hopped she crossed in the right direction.

**AN: ok I know that was sadly short but I thought this was a good place to end (don't worry just the end of the chapter) and since I got it up fast I thought it would be ok too. So please review! And ill update ASAP! Also just as I was typing this I got two more reviews! Yahoo! Lol it makes me very happy! And so I will probably update tomorrow night if I get home in time or Saturday (it's my friends birthday part on Friday!) oh and I was thinking about changing the name of this story to either Never Say Goodbye For Good or The Bell's Conspiracy, please tell me what you think and if you have any ideas! **


	9. That's It?

**AN: thank you all sooooooooo much for all the reviews, it means a lot to me :-D, some I could tell a lot of thought was put in to and I really appreciate that. So in honor of that I decided to update right away because I was so overjoyed by the reviews! **

_Previously: _

_He yelled at her retreating figure "I never could, even if I tried and don't worry I definitely will!" she couldn't help but break out into a big grin as his words reached her ears, but soon tears began to fall. She realized she may never see him again and that was the best kiss of her life, it was then that she realized that not only was everyone right about him liking her but her mom was right when she said she had liked him too. She then became conscious that it was anything but hate she felt for Tristan and that she had crossed that thin like between love and hate, she just hopped she crossed in the right direction. _

Though he had only just arrived, Tristan already felt like he was in hell. It's not that the military school was bad, actually it was a bit like staying in a dorm room it's just that all his thoughts kept drifting back to earlier that day. After much effort, he still couldn't figure out what she had meant by "I should have listened, they were all right".

He could tell his time hear would be fairly difficult and challenging but it sure beat living with his dad. Each room was equipped with a phone, for emergencies and the allotted time given to each student per week was a good two hours, and a computer. Tristan did still have his cell phone so he could sneak off and use that if need be. The computers had fairly fast internet connection which was supposed to be used for homework and such but of course email and instant messaging was also commonly used. The food wasn't that bad either, the real problem was Rory; only 6 hours later, and he missed her greatly. He still couldn't quite believe what had happened. She had kissed him; Rory Gilmore had kissed him, Tristan Dugray! And this was no peck; it was a good long full fledged kiss, passionate, fervent, and forever engraved in his mind.

Tristan kept the picture, with her information on it, on his nightstand on top of a copy of "Romeo and Juliet". He wondered the reasoning behind what she had done; sometimes he thought that maybe she actually liked him, he wanted that to be true more that he had wanted anything in his life. Another option was that she honestly thought she would never see him again. Then why would she have given him her number and such? Maybe she thought he wouldn't use it because of what she thought of him, millions of what-ifs and whys were flying through his head all day since his departure. He really hoped most of his hypotheses were fictitious. He would see her again; he would make sure of it. He went to the computer and decided to email her before he started to have second thoughts again, he had almost called her when he had arrived but couldn't bring himself to do it for some reason. He decided email would be easier and less awkward way to start conversation while he was away.

To: 

From: 

Subject: wow

Hey, how are you? This is-

"Tristan!" someone yelled.

He went to close the window on the screen but send the email instead. _Shit _he thought before answering "yeah?"

"Some of the guys and I are going out, kind of like a welcome type of thing, want to come?"

"No thanks man"

"Come on it'll be tons of fun, there will be lots of hot chicks involved" he attempted to bribe him.

"Still no, I got to straighten some things out."

"Okay, whatever, your loss"

Tristan let out a heavy sign and flopped down onto his bed. Meanwhile Rory and her mom had just finished a classis movie night. Rory hadn't told her mom about the kiss and all that with Tristan. All her mom knew was that Tristan was gone. Rory decided to check her email. She gasped as she saw one from and unknown address that she was almost positive was Tristan. She opened the email and almost started to cry. "Hey, how are you" was all it said, she was hurt and she was going to let him knot it. She hit reply.

To: 

From: 

Subject: RE: wow

Wow indeed. That's it? That is all you have to say? "Hey, how are you?" well you want to know the answer? Fine, I'm not good Tristan! You left, I kissed you, I gave you my number and stuff and you just email me and sat that. I have never been so direct in my life, about anything, so I took a chance and went for it and you make it seem like it was nothing. Did that mean nothing to you? Cause it sure as hell felt like it meant something! Even you can't kiss like that without any feelings being involved. Then you email me something barely worth saying like nothing had happened. But I learned something from this, there actually is a _very _thin line between love and hate, and also sometimes when you cross that line there is no going back, please tell me I crossed the right way (I'm not saying I'm fully crossed yet though), because I'm not so sure I can ever go fully back. And that's an email!

Rory

P.S. your email address makes it seem like you're saying Ms. Hottie!

**AN: ok so again not the longest chapter but if I went on it would be another few pages. I have the next chapter written and not typed it is about 9 pages so it will be pretty long. It should be up fairly soon especially if I get a lot of reviews like before. My birthday is next weekend (YAY!) so I won't be able to update then so I will get the next chapter up before then. I will try and write more so I can get the chapters out quicker. Anyways please review! And tell me what you think about the whole title thing!!!!**


	10. Romeoless Juliet

**AN: thanks a bunch to the _few_ who reviewed! It's greatly appreciated, oh and I am sorry if some of this seems like it is happening so fast, and it is and I don't like that either but I need to have it happen before a certain point in order for my _Dazzling Plan _to work! And now on with the story!**

_Recap:_

_To: _

_From: _

_Subject: RE: wow_

_Wow indeed. That's it? That is all you have to say? "Hey, how are you?" well you want to know the answer? Fine, I'm not good Tristan! You left, I kissed you, I gave you my number and stuff and you just email me and sat that. I have never been so direct in my life, about anything, so I took a chance and went for it and you make it seem like it was nothing. Did that mean nothing to you? Cause it sure as hell felt like it meant something! Even you can't kiss like that without any feelings being involved. Then you email me something barely worth saying like nothing had happened. But I learned something from this, there actually is a very thin line between love and hate, and also sometimes when you cross that line there is no going back, please tell me I crossed the right way (I'm not saying I'm fully crossed yet though), because I'm not so sure I can ever go fully back. And that's an email!_

_Rory_

_P.S. your email address makes it seem like you're saying Ms. Hottie! _

Three A.M., Tristan couldn't sleep. He decided to send Rory a real email since he couldn't call her at this hour. He was about to email her when he saw he had a message and when he read the all too familiar address he identified it to be her. His heart sank when he read it. Of course he cared! He had to respond right away but then thinking of he P.S. consented to create a new email address first.

To: 

From: 

Subject: Juliet, my sincerest apologies

Whoa, ok let me start by saying that I wasn't done with the email and I had no intention of leaving it like that. See what happened was someone came in and I meant to minimize the box but hit send by mistake. I am _soooo _that I hurt youï! It was anything but my intention and of course it meant something! That was the best kiss I have ever had, it's so sad I'm not there otherwise we could have a repeat performance wink, wink ok I guess it's confession time. I really, _really_ like you, I have since the day I met you, but for some reason when my so called "charm" didn't work I began to act like a little boy. I give you my sincerest apologies for that also. If it is still ok, I would love to call you and hear your voice again. Warm wishes ï

Tristan

He reread the letter and sent it before he changed his mind. He hoped that was the right thing to do and he really hoped she felt the same way. Intertwined in his thoughts he drifted off to sleep.

Rory woke up that morning and stumbled out of bed, she hadn't slept well at all, she had been consumed with thoughts of none other than Tristan Dugray. She made her way into the kitchen to get some coffee. Just as she poured herself a cup the phone rang causing her to jump and spill the coffee all over herself. _Damn it_ she muttered to herself as she answered the phone.

"Hello?" she muttered very annoyed

"He's gone! We have no Romeo!"

"Paris?"

"Yes, who else would be going on about Romeo,--"

Rory was about to inform her that he mother could very possibly do that but Paris didn't give her the chance.

"You're missing the point!"

"Oh my goodness what are we going to do!" Rory feigned fret. Fortunately Paris didn't catch on to that.

"Brad transferred schools, therefore leaving us with no guys!" Paris was still yelling, very stressed. "We need to have an emergency rehearsal tonight."

"Yea, sure" Rory said only partly hearing what Paris was saying.

"Ok same place as last time, about 7:30?"

"Um, sure I guess."

"Ok, I'll see you then"

"Bye Paris." And with that they both hung up. This was going to be a long day. She poured herself more coffee and sat down at the table. She saw a note from her mom.

Sweetie –

Had to go to the inn, I won't be back till late tonight, money for pizza/Luke's in the usual spot. Make sure you have a party and trash the place while I'm out.

Love, Mom.

_Too bad I have rehearsal tonight _Rory thought. She liked having the house to herself. She got up, showered and got dress. She then went over to her computer and logged in. "You have one new message" it read. She saw it was from Tristan and almost just deleted it but decided that would be a huge mistake. When she read it she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. She almost started to cry for some reason, but then laughed at his playfulness at parts. She wrote back instantly.

Tristan must have checked his email seven times already, hoping and waiting for a response. Finally on the eighth try he saw a response. He opened it as fast as he possibly could.

To: 

From: 

Subject: so many questions so little time

I've very sorry for blowing up at you like that, but how was I supposed to know? And it was the best kiss I ever had too. ï!!! What does this mean? What are we? Are you ever coming back? When will I see you again? Answer ASAP!

Rory

P.S. did you forget about our little English assignment!? (Well I'm guessing its not that you forgot by how you kept slipping in a few names, nice email address by the way) You know that one worth half out grade! Well we now have no Romeo! Brad transferred schools so we are kind of screwed I believe. Paris called a emergency rehearsal for tonight, oh joy.

Tristan chuckled as he read the last bit; he began to type his response.

Rory decided to check her email before she left for Miss. Patty's. sje was strangly excited when she saw he had replied already.

To: 

From: 

Subject: my poor Romeo-less Juliet

Of course I didn't forget, I was looking forward to kissing you. I'm very sorry to hear of your dilemma though. Why did Brad transfer?

Too many questions to answer here but they will be answered soon, I promise. I have to go for now dear Juliet.

Tristan

She laughed to herself as she imagined him sitting there with that grin of his, cocky and arrogant. She was still wondering about some of the loose ends however. When she looked at the clock she realized she had to go or she would be late.

Rory walked towards the studio and even before it came into view she heard Paris's booming voice. She rolled her eyes knowingly as she stepped into the studio.

"Louise, get off the phone now!"

"Look I got to go the dragon lady calls, bye" Louise said to whomever she was talking to.

"Finally!" Paris huffed. She noticed Rory "well nice of you to join us."

"Hey, you said 7:30, its 7:33 and I have been here listening to you yell at Louise for about five minutes so technically I was early." Rory smiled.

"Whatever okay so as you all know we have no Romeo and the performance is tomorrow. Mr. Medina said it is too late to change the groups; therefore one of us has to be Romeo. Obviously it can't be Rory because she is Juliet and not Madeline" Madeline gave a "but" look, Paris glared at her before continuing "_because_ there are more than three lines." Madeline relaxed "and it can't be Louise either because se won't be able to learn the lines in time and then there is no one for her part. So I guess it's me."

"You could have saved a lot of time if you just said that in the beginning" Louise quipped. Paris scowled.

"Let's run through the script so I can learn the lines" Paris said demandingly.

They went on with rehearsal.

"And Thus with a kiss I die" Paris spoke as she "died". She then stood up and said "ok so everyone meet at the school at 6:00 sharp so we can review, get into costume, etc. etc." everyone nodded in agreement and walked off.

Rory went home to an empty house, she ordered pizza, got into her pajamas, and made her self comfortable on the couch when the phone rang. After locating the phone in the kitchen cabinet she answered.

"Hello?"


	11. Is That Really You?

**AN: I am so so so sorry I didn't update sooner, I meant to do it promptly on Monday but I left the disk with it on it at my other house I couldn't! sorry! I apologize that this is such a short chapter also! But I already had it typed and I didn't have time to type more but I should put the next chapter up tomorrow or Friday! Thanks to all who reviewed! It inspires me and gives me incentive!**

_Recap:_

_Rory went home to an empty house, she ordered pizza, got into her pajamas, and made her self comfortable on the couch when the phone rang. After locating the phone in the kitchen cabinet she answered. _

"_Hello?"_

"Hello?" she asked again.

"Hey, Rory?" she nearly dropped the phone as she recognized the voice.

"Yea, Tristan, is that you?"

He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding "yea..."

They both were silent for at least five minutes "so how are you?" she asked

"Okay I guess..." he was going to say his missed her but he was afraid he might freak her out or something.

"I miss you already" she blurted out."

He smirked at this but managed to keep himself from making a rude comment "I miss you too" they both sighed. "This is a little awkward huh?"

"Yea, it is. It's hard with you there, me here."

"Uh-Huh" he agreed absent mindedly. "So I--"

He was cut off "sorry one second, doorbell just rang, might be the pizza I ordered."

"Ok" he replied chuckling to himself.

When she opened the door she nearly fainted, but this time she actually did drop the phone.

**AN: I know, I'm very evil but I thought this was a nice place to leave it laughs evilly! I'm just kidding, but I wanted to put something up because I won't be able to update till next week because this weekend is jam packed, because it's my birthday on Saturday!!! Yay ok so PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! (as a gift to me ï lol!!!)**


	12. Only One Answered

**AN: so sorry! I meant to update right away but I was busy this weekend and such so yea. I won't continue making lame excuses I will just get on with the story! Please read and review!**

_Recap: _

"_Uh-Huh" he agreed absent mindedly. "So I--"_

_He was cut off "sorry one second, doorbell just rang, might be the pizza I ordered." _

_"Ok" he replied chuckling to himself. _

_When she opened the door she nearly fainted, but this time she actually did drop the phone. _

There he stood, holding her pizza. "Tristan" she breathed out as she jumped into his arms. He was shocked, he dropped the box and stumbled back a bit, but soon he was spinning her around; hugging her tight, "Mary" he whispered". It was such a movie moment! The phone, that she had dropped when she had answered the door, started to ring and snapped them back to reality. They broke apart, though neither wanted to. She answered the phone.

"Hello? ...oh hi mom, ok" she walked away from the door and ushered Tristan in; he closed the door behind him. "Hold on mom" she covered the mouthpiece of the phone and told Tristan to go sit on the couch and make himself comfortable and that she would be right there. "Okay" he mouthed back.

"Uh, mom? Well, you see, Tristan is kind of here." She paused as she awaited a reply "yes, really...truly, really...Mom!" she huffed as her mom kept questioning in wonder that he was there. "Don't worry, no I don't know why he is here yet...no, ok, maybe I don't know. Okay, bye mom, love you." She replaced the phone in the cradle and walked back in and for the first time realized he was soaking wet. She looked at him confused for many reason and for some inexplicable cause, out of all the questions she wanted answered, all the things she wanted to say, she stated "you're wet."

"Yea, just a tad," He replied sarcastically "you didn't notice the pouring rain?" he chuckled "or the fact then when you gave me such a warm welcome I was wet?"

"I guess not" she said fairly quietly

"Too busy staring at oh so lovely me?"

"Yea..." she muttered but unfortunately not soft enough.

"Really?" he said

"What?" she replied obviously preoccupied with something, so he decided to let it go for now.

He consented to save her from the discomfited moment. "Well, I'm sure you are wondering what I'm doing here."

"It's crossed my mind" she joked. It was silent for a while. "So, are you going to enlighten me with the story?"

"Oh, right, okay, so I'm in my room reading the emails from you," He smiled at this "and pondering all your questions and realized I had to answer them in person, I have a few of my own as well," he paused "it's harder to avoid them when you are facing the person, and well I --- I needed to see you."

After a few moments of silence she spoke. "Wow, that's sweet and you're right, but it has been like one day!"

_32 and a half hours _Tristan thought. They both burst into hysteric laughter. When they finally regained composure they knew they had to talk. They sat down at opposite ends of the couch, afraid of what might happen if they sat to close. "I guess I'll start," Tristan said "well, by now, I hope you know how I feel about you," she nodded in agreement "and I am really sorry for how I treated you during our time at Chilton together. It's just that I really liked you and I never really had had true feelings for anyone, so I was confused. I never knew how to act around you so I regressed to the tactics of a toddler. I never ever thought you would like me back! So, when I was leaving and you came running and kissed me like that I thought I was dreaming." Rory blushed at this "I can't help but wonder why, did you just think you would never see me again? Or what? And you then gave me your info so you must have wanted me to contact you and what did you mean when you said they were all right?" he took a very much needed deep breath. "How do you feel? Are the feelings one way, Or is it a through street?"

She hesitated a moment before answering "I---"

**AN: evil, oh so evil I know, but it just gives you something to look forward to! Lol, ok I have to apologize about the email addresses in previous chapters. I didn't know they didn't show up. Rory's is and Tristan's was but Rory made the ms. Hottie comment so he changed it to I am very sorry for that, word made them links therefore they didn't show up. Please tell me if you didn't see them here and I will fix the other chapters ASAP! Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **


	13. Did You Really Just Say That?

**AN: I got a new computer! I'm sooo happy! So hopefully it'll make my updates faster which I'm sure you will all enjoy (I'm not making any promises though) and also I love typing on laptops so I won't mind typing up the chapters nearly as much! Please review! Here is the awaited chapter! **

_Recap:_

_They sat down at opposite ends of the couch, afraid of what might happen if they sat to close. "I guess I'll start," Tristan said "well, by now, I hope you know how I feel about you," she nodded in agreement "and I am really sorry for how I treated you during our time at Chilton together. It's just that I really liked you and I never really had had true feelings for anyone, so I was confused. I never knew how to act around you so I regressed to the tactics of a toddler. I never ever thought you would like me back! So, when I was leaving and you came running and kissed me like that I thought I was dreaming." Rory blushed at this "I can't help but wonder why, did you just think you would never see me again? Or what? And you then gave me your info so you must have wanted me to contact you and what did you mean when you said they were all right?" he took a very much needed deep breath. "How do you feel? Are the feelings one way, Or is it a through street?" _

_She hesitated a moment before answering "I---"_

She was about to say something, when she realized that during the course of their conversation they had unconsciously moved closer to one another. She decided that in this case actions would speak louder than words; so, for once she followed he heart. She closed the gap between them, she kissed him. He immediately responded even though he was once again shocked by her bold actions. He arms snaked around his neck and into his hair; his roamed around her back. They broke apart gasping for air. Tristan's hands, which had found their way to her waist still rested firmly there. Hers slid down his back and came to rest limply, resting on the couch on either side of him. They just sat there, staring into each others eyes, both afraid to even blink. Finally Tristan spoke.

"I couldn't leave my Juliet Romeo-less" he breathed as he rested his forehead against hers.

Rory chuckled, "so you're implying that you are my Romeo?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Sure am" came his cocky response. "Is that all right with you?" he said, a little unsure about her response.

"MmmHmm" Rory nodded. After a moment of silence Rory spoke again, "so, when will you be back for good?"

"I honestly don't know. I have to go back right after the play tomorrow." at this Rory let out an unhappy groan and Tristan couldn't hide his smirk. "I'll try to come back in a few weeks, but I don't know when I'll be back for good, soon I hope, if I have good behavior that just might happen. I'm hoping in time for the new school year."

"That would be nice, senior year with my boyfriend in the same school, yet along state..."

"What did you say?" Tristan questioned thinking maybe he heard wrong.

"Um, that it would be nice if we were in the same state?"

"No, before that, you called me your boyfriend!" he inwardly smirked as she blushed hotly.

"I didn't mean---" he cut her off with a short, soft kiss.

"No, I like that." Rory smiled and kissed him again. Between kisses Tristan spoke "So" kiss "_Mary_" another kiss "when is the" kiss kiss "performance?" they pulled apart for Rory's response.

"Tomorrow, I have to be at the school at six.

"Okay, since I'm not at the school anymore, I don't suppose they would still let me play my old part?"

Rory was shocked "You would want to do that?"

"Yup, plus I would get to kiss you, again" he said smugly.

"Sure beats kissing Paris, but you could kiss me anyways." and he did just that.

**AN: hey, I know not a lot of substance and kind of short but it's something, and I got it up fairly quickly, and I needed this chapter for the following ones, they all have a purpose! Anyways PLEASE REVIEW!**


	14. It's Official?

1**AN: so sorry it took so long, I've just been really busy, I'll try to be better! Lol, read and review please! **

_Recap: _

"_Tomorrow, I have to be at the school at six._

"_Okay, since I'm not at the school anymore, I don't suppose they would still let me play my old part?"_

_Rory was shocked "You would want to do that?"_

"_Yup, plus I would get to kiss you, again" he said smugly._

"_Sure beats kissing Paris, but you could kiss me anyways." and he did just that._

The phone rang and they finally pulled apart.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Rory, just wanted to tell you I won't be home tonight."

"Ok, I have something to tell you."

"What sweetie?"

"Um, well you see, Tristan is here"

"Excuse me?"

"Tristan is here" Rory reiterated.

"As in, the Spawn of Satan? Bible Boy? Who is supposed to be in military school?"

"Um, yah...sure"

"Why?"

"Well he came home for the weekend I guess, although he just left yesterday, not that I mind that he is here, but--"

"Am I missing something? Last time I checked, you hated him."

"I never hated him persay..."

"And..."

"Well when he left, I kinda um well kissed him."

"You did what!?" Lorelai asked shocked.

"Yah, when he left he dropped something, I picked it up and it was a picture of me, with some poem on the pack and I ran out, and then well kissed him, and then said everyone was right and not to forget me. As I was walking back into the school he yelled he never could. He called when I got back from rehearsal and then the doorbell rang and I thought it was my pizza--"

"Wait, you ordered pizza? When? What kind?"

"Mom! So missing the point!"

"Right, sorry, so you went to the door..."

"And he was just standing there and now he is in our house on the couch!"

"Oh mu, so did you guys have the talk yet?"

"What? Oh um yea...."

"What was the consensus?"

"Well, he is my boyfriend now."

"What happened to that whole military school thing?"

"Well he is going back right after the play tomorrow"

"Oh right that, I'll meet you there ok?"

"Ok, I'll see you then, I got to go now though"

"Be good!"

"Don't worry mom, I'll be fine"

"Yea, yea"

"Bye mom"

"Bye" they hung up and Rory walked back to the couch and sat down.

"Sorry, that was my mom, she won't be back tonight and she will meet us at Chilton in time for the play."

"Ok" he put his arm around her and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "What do you want to do now?"

They consented to watch a movie. Neither really noticed what they had chosen,, they were to busy staring into each others eyes. His arm was draped over the back of the ouch, her head now resting on his shoulder. They both drifted off to sleep, snuggled together. Tristan awoke first and just stared at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful. He glanced at the clock and sadly realized they had to leave soon. He carefully leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her luscious lips. He eyes fluttered open. She smiled and began to sit up.

"Sorry to wake you, but we have to leave soon, that is if you don't want to suffer the rath of Paris." Rory laughed lightly and Tristan flashed that charming smile of his. They just sat there momentarily, waiting for that burst of energy to get them to movie. Finally Rory muttered coffee and got up. Tristan soon slowly followed her into the kitchen and saw her gulping down coffee. He stood behind her chair and leaned it backwards. She yelped in surprise and glared at him as she brushed past him to get to her room. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her close.

He whispered in her ear. "Go get ready my dear Juliet." and released her. He walked back into the living room to wait for her.

Rory took a shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She came out. "You ready to go?" she asked

"Yup" he replied. They walked out to his car hand in hand. He opened the door for her but not before flashed another charming smile which she returned. They both climbed in to the luxurious car. The drive was fairly quiet, they were just enjoying each others company. He reached over and took her hand in his. She looked over and smiled, wanting this to last forever. They were both lost in their own thoughts.

They pulled up in front of the menacing school, gargoyles glaring at them as if daring them to go in.

"You sure you want to do this?" Rory asked, worried that people would not react well to his being back for only a night after he had just departed.

"Yeah, I think so" he said, trying to reassure himself as well.

"Why aren't we moving?"

"You go ahead, get ready and inform Paris of your arrival so she doesn't kill you. I'll meet you inside in a minute."

"You sure?"

"Yea"

"Ok, see you in a minuted, my Romeo." she kissed him softly as she left. He sighed preparing himself for what was sure to come.

**AN: hope you enjoyed, I'll update as soon as I can! Please review! **


	15. I Just Have to Play Dead

**AN: I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner. But I had so much homework then I went to see family over break. Anyways please review! Oh and means meanwhile. **

_Recap: _

"_You go ahead, get ready and inform Paris of your arrival so she doesn't kill you. I'll meet you inside in a minute." _

_ "You sure?"_

_ "Yea"_

"_Ok, see you in a minute, my Romeo." she kissed him softly as she left. He sighed preparing himself for what was sure to come. _

Tristan took a deep breathe, and was planning to get out of the car and go find Rory but he somehow found himself turning the key in the ignition and putting the car into reverse.

Rory went inside, giddy, wanting to tell Paris the news. She changed into her costume and put on her makeup and then went to find her. Rory soon found her and before she could speak Paris began bombarding her with questions.

"Are you dressed? Hair? Makeup? Do you know your lines?--" Rory cut off Paris's parade of questions.

"Paris look at me, do you have to ask if I'm dressed?" she didn't wait for an answer. "Guess what! Tristan came back for the weekend! Why, when he just left I still don't know but whatever, we have a real Romeo!"

"Really? And he is going to do the play?" Paris asked skeptically, not sure this was actually happening.

"That's what he said" Rory said a big smile on her face.

"Does he know his lines?"

"No, we thought it would be fun for him to just wing it." Rory said, he statement oozing with sarcasm.

Paris gave her a very condescending look but didn't comment on it. "Well, he better not screw this up…wait! Will he be allowed to since he doesn't exactly go here anymore?"

"Well, it says his name in the program anyways and I'm if we explain the situation to Mr. Medina, he won't mind given our lack of guys problem."

"Okay, where is he?"

"Out at his car I think"

"You go get him and I'll go talk to Mr. Medina."

"Ok."

Rory ran out in her costume, holding onto her headdress to keep it from flying away. She looked to where she remembered the car had previously been parked, and saw it was empty. She willed herself not to cry as she glances around the lot, hoping it was just in another spot. She tried to make herself believe it was a dream, that since their relationship was new it didn't matter, and that she shouldn't get so upset over something that had only started the other day. But she knew it matter. She broke down and cried.

Paris talked to Mr. Medina and then went to go find Rory. She ran outside and saw Rory crumbled into a little ball on the bench, knees brought to her chest, lightly rocking back and forth in tears. Paris slowly approached her,

"Rory?" no answer "What happened?" Rory tried to answer but it sounded a bit chopped.

"Why is it bothering me so much? I thought I hate him until Friday! Then he just appears, then poof! He's gone again." She leaned onto Paris's shoulder and continued to sob. Paris uneasily started to rub her back in a soothing manor. She figured Tristan freaked out and left, the problem was, Rory wouldn't understand why.

"I would really love to hear more but we have to go in, it's going to be out turn soon."

"Okay," Rory sniffled "I guess it's good I'm just playing dead."

**AN: ok short I know, but that's all I have time for. I will update again by Thursday at the latest (will probably post the next chapter on Tuesday though)! Promise! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	16. A Little Bit Of AfterShock

**AN: I'M SOOOOO SORRY!!!!! I had every intention of updating by the date designated but I've just had so much homework and so much to do I haven't had any time. I apologize profusely and I will try to be better. But still, please, please, please review! That will probably make me update faster. **

_Since it has been so long, I must recap: _

_Rory ran out in her costume, holding onto her headdress to keep it from flying away. She looked to where she remembered the car had previously been parked, and saw it was empty. She willed herself not to cry as she glances around the lot, hoping it was just in another spot. She tried to make herself believe it was a dream, that since their relationship was new it didn't matter, and that she shouldn't get so upset over something that had only started the other day. But she knew it matter. She broke down and cried. _

_Paris talked to Mr. Medina and then went to go find Rory. She ran outside and saw Rory crumbled into a little ball on the bench, knees brought to her chest, lightly rocking back and forth in tears. Paris slowly approached her, _

_"Rory?" no answer "What happened?" Rory tried to answer but it sounded a bit chopped. _

_"Why is it bothering me so much? I thought I hate him until Friday! Then he just appears, then poof! He's gone again." She leaned onto Paris's shoulder and continued to sob. Paris uneasily started to rub her back in a soothing manor. She figured Tristan freaked out and left, the problem was, Rory wouldn't understand why. _

_"I would really love to hear more but we have to go in, it's going to be out turn soon."_

_"Okay," Rory sniffled "I guess it's good I'm just playing dead." _

After her minor meltdown things ran fairly smoothly. The performance went well. Rory wandered out in search of her mom.

"Sweetie! You did great!" Lorelai exclaimed, but then noticed Rory's crestfallen expression. "Oh honey, what's wrong?"

"He-he left…again."

"What? Who? Oh, when?"

Tears still fell but she wasn't sobbing as she had been before. "Before the performance, he said he would meet me inside, and I believed him, I didn't have a reason not to. So, I went and got ready. Then I went outside to find him and he was gone."

"Honey, I'm so sorry."

"Why do I even care so much? I could barely stand him until Friday, or so I thought. He comes back for one day, shakes up my life, leaves again, and then I've dropped into pieces? No! That's not right! This can't be happening."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up; he's the one who should be doing that."

"I really thought he liked me, cared about me, that he had changed. Why do women always think they can change men's ways?"

"I don't know, but I do know, that just because he left doesn't mean he doesn't like you. Come on let's go to Luke's and get sine coffee!"

"Okay" Rory managed meekly.

The drive home was fairly quiet. When they reached there destination, they parked and sauntered into Luke's.

"You go sit down, and I'll get two extra large coffees.

"Ok" Rory went to a table in the corner.

"Hey Luke, I need two extra large coffee's and a slice of pie."

Luke reluctantly gave it to her. Lorelai walked over to the table and handed a coffee and the pie to Rory.

"Thanks" she mumbled.

After about half an hour they went home. Rory kissed her mom goodnight and went to her room. She slipped into her flannel coffee cup pajamas, grabbed a book, and crawled into bed. She heard a beeping and realized it was her phone. She dialed 86.

The annoying animated voice came through the phone. "You have two new messages, to listen to your messages please enter your password, then press pound."

Rory followed the instructions. "Hey, Rory, I-I don't know where to begin…"

**AN: short again I know, but that's all I had written and it's a good stopping point, a little suspense. Plus I'm sure you all already hate me. I apologize for any delays that may come, for this is all I have written so far. I will try and come up with the next few chapters soon, but I shouldn't make any promises, except that I will try my hardest. It all depends on stupid homework. Anyways, I am truly sorry but please review! **


	17. That Damn Snow

**AN: Sorry for the delay, just haven't been inspired. Big thanks to all who reviewed! I have been getting less lately and I appreciate the few that I do get so much. You guys are my motivation! Please keep reviewing!**

_Recap: _

_Rory followed the instructions. "Hey, Rory, I-I don't know where to begin…" _

Before the message could continue Rory hit seven; the delete key. She didn't want to see _him_, look at _him_, or hear _him_. She turned off her phone and fell into a restless sleep.

Rory had a very unpleasing dream that night. She and Tristan were married and appeared to be deeply in love. She had come home early from Stars Hallow, as she had gone to visit her mother and found him in bed with another girl. She had run out of the room crying with him running after her yelling that he could explain. The classic answer always show in movies when situations like this arose. He was begging with her to forgive him while the girl was still sitting in their bed. She had slapped him and said they were done for good and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

She awoke with a start to the sound of a book falling off her desk. The dream had really got to her. Although she knew it wasn't true she couldn't help but ball her hands into fists at her sides. She got up and decided to shower to try and get the stupid dream out of her head before school.

The doorbell rang and since Lorelai had already left for work a puzzled Rory went to answer it. "Tristan-" she said in a wistful, yet bitter manor.

But he cut her off immediately. "Don't speak let me explain first." She nodded and moved aside to let him enter the house, even though part of her was screaming at her to just shut the door and walk away. He continued "I know you might not think this is a good reason, but I left because I couldn't face everybody. My leaving was a big scandal in the stupid "high-society" and so when I returned after only one day I couldn't go home. My parents had no Idea I was here, I didn't come for them anyways, I came for you." At this Rory blushed slightly and couldn't help but smile. "If I had gone into the school for the play, everyone would have thought I made it up, that I never really left. People would have been constantly bombarding me with questions, and I didn't want to answer any of them. I couldn't have my parents or anyone know I was back, even if it had only been for two days."

"Then why did you say you would come in the first place?"

"When you opened that door, all rational thought left me completely. I couldn't think straight, and I did want to go and be there for you. I just, I just couldn't bare it when the reality sunk in. I am so deeply sorry, and hope you will forgive me."

"You know it really hurt, when you told me you were leaving, I felt oddly upset. When it came to you, I was confused. I didn't know how I truly felt. Then when you came to my house the next day it felt so surreal. I put a certain trust in you that I never thought I would. And then you just left, you said you would be right in, but instead you left. I won't lie, it hurt, and it hurt more than I thought it would. It made me realize how much I don't hate you."

"Oh, Rory, I really am sorry."

"I know, I can tell. But if you left so soon, how do I know you aren't going to leave me again?"

"Rory, me leaving had nothing to do with you, actually you were the reason I was trying to get myself to forget it all and stay. I didn't want to leave; I just felt it was the best thing to do at the time. But I need you to know, that I did not go because of you. I would never intentionally hurt you."

"Ok" Rory stuttered, unsure of what else to say.

Tristan walked closer to her and took her hands in his. He leaned down and gave her a simple kiss, and pulled her into a tight embrace. She fit into him beautifully as she snuggled in closer to his toned body. They stood like this for some time. They finally pulled apart and Tristan rested his forehead against hers, and kissed her softly once again. It took her a few moments to respond, she just was unsure now. "Tristan" she said quietly "I just don't know" at that he nodded and turned to leave without another word.

When he was descending the steps she looked out upon the outside world. It was snowing. _Magical things happen when it snows. _She heard her mother's voice in her head. She ran towards him. "Tristan" she muttered, he turned around at the sound of her voice. She looked deep into Tristan's eyes and saw they hold truth and sincerity. She kissed him hard and when she pulled away in desperate need for air she whispered breathlessly "It's that damn snow." And with that she walked into the house and only gave a small smile before closing the door.

**AN: ok I know this totally sucked but I needed to get them in better graces sometime, and it had to be soon because it had to be in person and obviously he had to get back to military school. I know parts of the story, like how fast it was going, seem unreal and I apologize for that, I didn't plan it out quite as I should have. But now I have a plan…somewhat. looks away innocently Anyways, I have some random chapters written and I'm just trying to work up to them because I do know how I want this story to go. Please bare with me and REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	18. Posing in Pink

**AN: Hey! I got very few reviews but I would like to give a special thanks to smile1 and tickledpink! Thanks so much for reviewing almost every chapter and giving me good feedback. Also tickledpink, I enjoy your rants and find them oddly amusing and entertaining so please continue them lol. Also just thanks to everyone who does review I really appreciate it. So anyways on with the story! And yes I do have another dazzling plan! Oh and !i!i!i!i** **is just a change of scene. Enjoy! **

_Recap:_

"_Rory, me leaving had nothing to do with you, actually you were the reason I was trying to get myself to forget it all and stay. I didn't want to leave; I just felt it was the best thing to do at the time. But I need you to know, that I did not go because of you. I would never intentionally hurt you."_

"_Ok" Rory stuttered, unsure of what else to say._

_Tristan walked closer to her and took her hands in his. He leaned down and gave her a simple kiss, and pulled her into a tight embrace. She fit into him beautifully as she snuggled in closer to his toned body. They stood like this for some time. They finally pulled apart and Tristan rested his forehead against hers, and kissed her softly once again. It took her a few moments to respond, she just was unsure now. "Tristan" she said quietly "I just don't know" at that he nodded and turned to leave without another word._

_When he was descending the steps she looked out upon the outside world. It was snowing. Magical things happen when it snows. She heard her mother's voice in her head. She ran towards him. "Tristan" she muttered, he turned around at the sound of her voice. She looked deep into Tristan's eyes and saw they hold truth and sincerity. She kissed him hard and when she pulled away in desperate need for air she whispered breathlessly "It's that damn snow." And with that she walked into the house and only gave a small smile before closing the door.  
_

Rory and Tristan had talked the previous day and agreed to take things slow and just ease into a relationship if that's where things let them. Well Rory decided and Tristan agreed not wanting to push her into anything. This was especially because since it was long distance and was hard on them both already. He wrote practically every other day and she replied just as often. She awaited his letters as he did with hers. Each one spelled faintly of coffee. Rather than email which was fairly impersonal they sent letters, each loving to see the handwriting and get even the slightest sent of the other.

It was now mid January. Snow was falling heavily as Rory walked home from the bus stop without a care in the world. Friday night dinner was canceled as well so she and her mom were planning a movie night. She stopped by Luke's for a cup of coffee and continued on her way. When she saw the mailbox, Gilmore printed boldly on the side, she couldn't help but smile. It was Friday, and there was always a letter waiting for her. She peered inside and there it lay, propped up against the side of the mailbox. _Rory Gilmore _was scrawled on one side in Tristan's casual cursive. She balanced her coffee in one hand and pulled out the letter with the other and headed inside holding it to her chest. She went into her room and carefully unsealed the envelope and slid out the letter. It smelled of sweet sweat and cologne. She inhaled deeply and unfolded the cream paper.

_Ma chère, _

_So today we had a very tough work out. 100 push-ups! I thought I was going to die. Plus we had to do 200 crunches after going through the excruciating obstacle course. Let me tell you, not fun! I miss you so. I just received your past letter and it just tickled me. Luke just won't give it up will he? Doesn't he know he doesn't stand a chance? When coffee is involved the Gilmore Girls can get ugly (one of the few times)! How did that English paper come out? Oh and how was your French test? I just had to turn in a paper for English and if I may say so myself, it was pretty damn good. Wow I'm sore. I must go, my bed is calling. If only you were here to share it with me wink wink. Goodbye my dear Mary.  
__Tristan_

_P.S. Now stop blushing!_

Now Rory was indeed blushing even more. He knew her so well. She got out a piece of stationary and immediately started to respond.

_Bible Boy, _

_I'm sorry they work you so hard, but I'm sure it'll be worth it in some way. Please inform Luke of the fact that he will never win the battle. He doesn't seem to catch on to that fact. But, I'm glad me having to beg for my cherished coffee amuses you. sarcastic Anyways, I got an A- on my English paper and I believe I did quite well on my French test. You will have to let me read your essay sometime. I have a ton of homework this weekend, oh what fun I will have. Lane's band has a gig tomorrow night and she is so excited, so I have to go and cheer her on. Well my mom is calling, yelling something about how the regular pizza guy wasn't there so she actually had to order like the rest of town. Sorry to cut this one short. _

_Rory _

"Rory!" Lorelai yelled.

"Coming" Rory responded. She carefully slid Tristan's letter back into its envelope and placed it in her desk drawer with the others. She then folded her letter and put it in the envelope and sealed it. She carefully printed the address and put a stamp in the upper corner. She was about to go out into the living room when she realized she was still wearing her Chilton uniform. She pulled out some sweats and a big t-shirt and quickly slipped of her uniform and put on the clothes she had selected.

"What's taking you so long, the movie is about to start"

"Sorry, here I am" Rory said as she sat next to her mom on the couch. She grabbed a piece of pizza and sat back and relaxed. When the movie was over Lorelai accosted Rory with many questions.

"So, how's Tristan doing?"

"Fine" was Rory's short response. Lorelai gave her a look so she continued. "He is doing well, he says its hard work but he is trying his best. And no, I don't know when he will be returning."

"Rory, are you okay?"

"Ya I'm fine, why?"

"Well you've been acting different lately."

"I've just been happy."

"I know it's just that usually, especially when there is something good happening, you always came and talked to me and now, well now you're not so much. It's like I have to drag information out of you."

"Really? Oh I'm so sorry, I just my mind has been occupied by other thoughts…"

"Like Tristan."

"Yea, like that." Rory sighed "I can't help it."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"Yeah" Rory said dreamily.

"Ok, I guess I'll head up to bead now." Lorelai said.

"Wait mom?" Lorelai turned to face her daughter with a big smile. Rory gave the same goofy grin and Lorelai bounced back to the couch. Rory began to fill her in.

By the time the Gilmore Girls finally wandered into bed it was two A.M. They both fell asleep as soon as their head hit the pillow. When Rory finally awoke around twelve she forced herself out of bed and into the shower. She stood there under the hot water, thoughts of none other than Tristan Dugray clouding her head. By the time she was showered and dressed, Lorelai was awake. They both agreed that the need for coffee was desperate so they wandered over to Luke's. They took two of the last available seats at the counter.

"Luke" Lorelai called in a sing-song voice. Rory just chuckled at her mother's antics.

"What?" Came his gruff reply

"Coffee and a cheeseburger, what do you want Rory?"

"Uh, I think I'll just have chili fries and coffee."

"You know you should wait for me or someone else who works here to come take your order. Just like everybody else." He said motioning towards the people in the crowded dinner.

"Luke, since when have we ever been just like everybody else?" Lorelai questioned, tilted her head to one side.

"Whatever." Luke muttered pouring them coffee. "This stuff is going to lead you to an early grave." And with that Luke walked away.

"He is just a ray of sunshine." Lorelai said sarcastically.

"yup." was all Rory said in response.

They finished their meals and walked back home. Rory tried to put a dent in her homework because that night she was going to see Lane's band. At six Rory began to get ready for the "concert". After much negotiation with Lorelai, Rory consented to wear a flowy black, silk skirt that fell just above her knees. Along with a bright pink tank top which was lower than Rory would have normally worn, but Lorelai didn't give her much of a choice, with a ruffle down the front. She wore pink chandelier style earrings along with a necklace of the same color. Around her wrist was a bracelet that appeared like she was wearing multiple but was actually one. The different shades of pink and styles of bead added a little something to the outfit. She walked out and twirled for her mom who clapped giddily, happy that she had won the clothing battle.

"You look gorgeous honey, just smashing." Lorelai said. "Shoes?" she questioned, seeing Rory's bare feet with only a simple silver chain around her right ankle.

"These?" Rory asked, holding up a pair of strappy black heels, embellished with a light shimmer to them.

"Perfect" came Lorelai's response. Rory's hair was down in loose waves with a small section on either side clipped back with sparkly clips and she just had on a splash of clear lip gloss, such a simple beauty.

"Okay, I should get going, don't want to be late."

"Okay Hun, but first a picture!" Lorelai said pulling out a camera from behind her back, smiling evilly.

Rory just sighed and posed for the camera. Lorelai took many pictures, some of just her standing there smiling and others of her in a model like pose. Lorelai finally decided she had enough and handed the camera to Rory.

"Get some pictures of Lane and the band and use of the roll of film. And have a great time."

"Thanks mom, I will, I'll be back later." She kissed her mom on the cheek and left.

!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i

Rory followed the directions Lane had previously given her very carefully. She arrived at around 7 and so she went to go find Lane.

"Rory!" Lane yelled eagerly, happy her best friend was here. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world." Rory said sweetly hugging her friend.

"You look hot!" Lane said

Rory blushed and laughed. "All Lorelai's doing, she didn't give me much of a choice."

"Well she did a wonderful job, you look great."

"Thanks, you too." She said noticing Lane's outfit. She wore black, slightly tight, pants that had faint turquoise pinstripes. She had on a studded black belt and a turquoise shirt with a slanted guitar on it. It was angled at the bottom, so the shortest part hit just above the top of her pants. Her earrings were small records that hung from a chain and she had a matching necklace.

"Thanks."

They continued to talk for a while; they had been out of contact for a while due to their schedules. They had a lot to catch up on. Rory filled Lane in on her latest Tristan info and soon it was time for the show to start.

Rory finally walked through the door of her home at 12:30 completely exhausted. She went and said goodnight to Lorelai and filled her in on the important details.

The following afternoon Rory and Lorelai were at Luke's, as usual.

"I should probably head home; I still have to finish typing up my Lab for chem." Rory said

"Sure Hon, I have to stop by the inn but I'll be back in time for dinner. I'll pick something up on my way home."

"K, see ya then."

"Bye sweetie."

While Rory headed home to work on her homework Lorelai headed to the inn but made a quick stop on her way.

Lorelai headed to the Chinese place to pick up dinner for Rory and her. After she got the food she stopped and picked up the film she had dropped off earlier that afternoon. When she arrived home she found Rory working on homework on the couch.

"Hey Rory, I got Chinese."

"Oh good, I'm hungry." Lorelai set the food on the coffee table.

"I'm gonna go start some coffee, be back in a sec."

"K" Rory responded.

Lorelai snuck into Rory's room. She went to her desk and found a letter from Tristan. She copied down the return address and then made her way to the kitchen to start the coffee. She walked back into the living room and sat down next to Rory on the couch. They dug into the food.

Later that night after Rory had gone to her room Lorelai started to write a letter.

**AN: ok I know bit of a dull chapter but I had to lay the ground work for a part in the next. Sorry it took so long too, but I just wasn't inspired to write because I can't do much yet because I can't just skip forward to much quite yet because I have to show Rory and Tristan's relationship right now and yada yada but I will be skipping forward a few months soon. Oh and is that always recapping thing annoying? I think it might be let me know please. I was planning on only doing that when they leave off mid sentence or it's a big cliffhanger or whatever but let me know pretty please! Ok so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!**


	19. Skimpy Skirts

**AN: hey everyone, so I tried very hard to get this out in time for Tinkledpink's birthday (the 13th) because apparently it would make it better. :-D So happy birthday to you tickledpink! Ok so thanks you so much to all who reviewed! It is greatly appreciated and it just makes my day. It was also part of the reason I got this chapter out in time. So please continue to review! Hope you enjoy. **

Evil one:

I just wanted to give you a little present because for some reason Rory appears to be crazy about you, or maybe she is just crazy, just kidding. Well anyways, enclosed is a picture. I knew I could never get Rory to actually send it; it was hard enough to get her to wear that. Anyways it will make sense when you see it. Enjoy, but not too much!

-- The Wonderful Goddess, Lorelai

P.S. if you mention this to Rory you are dead!

Lorelai slid out three pictures from the pack she had picked up earlier. They were of Rory before Lane's gig. One was just Rory standing there, big smile in place, looking all innocent despite her saucy outfit. The next was Rory posing as if she had paused at the end of a runway during a fashion show. The back of her hand rested against her forehead in a 'woe is me' manner. The other Lorelai had snapped without Rory noticing. Rory had been sitting in the gazebo that was in the middle of the town. She had a book in one hand and with the other she was absentmindedly twirling a loose strand of her hair, the rest flowing casually down her back. Balanced on the arm rest of the bench was a cup of coffee with Luke's printed on the side. She was reading intently. It just captured the essence of Rory. As Lorelai sealed the envelope and pressed a stamp to the upper right hand corner she smiled to herself. She was quite proud of her evil plot. She quickly scribbled the address on the envelope and went to put it in the mailbox. She then wandered up to her room to go to bed.

Then next few months droned on. Letters still arrived from Tristan often and she sent them back just as much. He called her every Sunday and they talked about everything under the sun. Tristan had greatly enjoyed the pictures and hadn't mentioned them to Rory, afraid of the wrath of Lorelai. Rory contemplated the summer and what fun the two of them would have. They were both so happy and when they spoke it was if there were no problems in the world. They began to learn everything about every aspect of the other.

**Beginning of June**

Summer vacation was approaching quickly. Rory was heading home after her last day of finals. She had never been so happy for that the school year was coming to an end. Tristan would be returning for the summer! She was ecstatic and they had been talking about what they would do when they finally reunited. Tristan was busy plotting and planning for their first official date. They hadn't seen each other since December, way too long they both agreed. With each letter and phone call Rory longed to see Tristan more and the same went for him. Rory was falling hard, she just hopped he would be there to catch her before she hit the ground. Rory wandered into Luke's to meet her mom preoccupied with many thoughts, most of that certain blonde.

"Hey mom" Rory said very chipper.

"Hey, how was your last final?"

"Not bad, I thought it would be a lot harder. I'm so happy they are done with though."

"Ya, I could never cope with regular tests, let alone finals."

"I feel we need to do something to celebrate this weekend."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I'm not quite sure. But I'm thinking we can use it to get some extra coffee from Luke, at least for a bit."

"You my daughter are a genius."

"And you're just realizing this?" Rory said arrogantly.

"Oh Lukey!" Lorelai hollered.

"No coffee!" came his automatic response.

"But Rory just finished her last excruciating final and she needs a reward."

"Yah, it was oh so painful." Rory added for emphasis.

"Fine!" Luke gave in causing both Gilmore's to smile triumphantly.

"So how about movie night tomorrow night and then we can go into Hartford on Sunday and go shopping!" Lorelai exclaimed excitedly.

"That's sounds vonderful darling, just vonderful." Rory said putting on a weird accent causing Lorelai to burst into a fit of giggles. Rory soon joined in.

(Saturday night)

That night they went to bed completely dead, after crashing from a sugar high. They next day at around one they were finally ready to go shopping. They stopped at Luke's first to get coffee, and then they were on their way.

They meandered into a store, arm in arm. Rory was in search of some cute some clothes along with a new pair of jeans. Lorelai kept teasing Rory, saying that she only wanted to come so she could get some clothes that would show off her body, for Tristan. Rory of course, would blush and deny it, knowing it was partly true. She did want to look cute for him but, she didn't feel the need to wear skimpy clothing to do so.

"Oh, I'm sure he would love this." Lorelai joked, holding up a scanty top and skirt. The top was a bright red-ish halter, that would have hit above her belly button and the skirt was denim and about two inches long.

"Mom, will you stop it already. You have felt the need to show an outfit like that in every store we go to! When will the madness stop?" Rory replied, trying to seem annoyed but, a smile kept peeking through.

"As soon as you agree to wear one." Lorelai stated seriously. She was having so much fun with this.

"Mom, I'm not going to wear anything like that!" Rory said pointing to the skirt.

Rory wandered through the racks. Grabbing a few things here and there as Lorelai still pushed the halter top plus a few other items she thought would be appreciated by the hot blonde. Rory finally headed towards the dressing rooms with Lorelai in tow. She was still trying to get her to try on the halter, the skirt, a pair of very short shorts, a strapless dress she had found along the way, and a few other items.

"Okay! Fine!" Rory grabbed a plain black shirt from a table and turned back to her mom. "I'll try on two things." Lorelai smiled giddily as she rifled through her stack. Rory continued before her mom could, "_but, _I get to pick them."

"Fine, fine, I still win."

"Of course, okay now give me the red halter and the dress."

"Voici, mademoiselle." Lorelai said in her best French accent as she handed the clothes to Rory. "And you better come out to show me everything!"

"Okay mom." Rory went into one of the rooms and Lorelai sat on the couch across from the stall Rory was in.

Rory decided to humor her mom and put on the halter top first. She slid it on but it was way to revealing for her liking and probable even for Lorelai's. Rory pulled it off and put on the black shirt and then slid the halter on top of it. She then found the denim skirt she had found after vetoing the one Lorelai was pushing at her. It fell about halfway down her thighs, a little shorter than she would normally wear but it was very cute and she wanted a bit of a change anyways. It had a band off the bottom that was pleated and it coincidently had red stitching. She exited the dressing for the start of Lorelai's critic time.

"Oh my Gosh! That is just so adorable." Lorelai exclaimed. "Depending on what accessories you wear, it could look very punk or very girly. I say defiantly get it."

"Really?" Rory asked skeptically, although she herself liked her creation.

"Really, now go try on that dress."

After many hours of shopping, they finally returned to Stars Hallow and collapsed at a table at Luke's. They were completely surrounded by shopping bags. Rory had bought the denim skirt and top along with the dress. The dress was strapless and black. It had white polka-dots, and the edges of the dots were pink. High around the waste of the dress was a pink ribbon tied in a perfect bow. She had also bought a few pairs of shorts, a pair of hip-hugger jeans, some basic t-shirts and tanks, a couple skirts, and some shoes. Also a few pairs of earrings and necklaces to match some of the items she had bought. Lorelai had also insisted that Rory buy a bikini and they had finally come to a consensus on one after much debate. It had boy-short bottoms and the top was like a regular bikini top except it had thicker bands tying it together around the neck and back. Also it had a thin strip under the basis of the top, making it seem less revealing. It was a red Hawaiian flower print and was very cute, though Rory hated to admit it. After about an hour or so of just sitting at Luke's sipping coffee and talking about life they decided to head home. Rory flew through the door and plopped down onto her bed with a book to wait for Tristan's Sunday call. Only a few minutes later the phone began to ring and she jumped up to go get it. Only of course, it wasn't where it should be. She searched everywhere and finally detected the direction the noise was coming from. She followed the insistent ringing to the kitchen where she finally located the phone. She clicked talk and was about to speak when she was beat to it.

"Wait let me guess" came Tristan's sexy voice through the phone. He paused as he "hmmmed" as he pretended to be deep in thought. "the oven" he finally said.

"How do you do that?"

"I'm psycho."

"Don't you mean _psychic_?"

"No."

"So you are saying you are insane?" and so the banter began.

"No." came his short annoying reply

"So what _are _you saying then?"

"See, _psychic _is when you can _read_ minds but," he paused for dramatic affect as Rory waiting patiently on the other end, loving every minute of this. "_Psycho _is when the minds _talk _to you." He finished triumphantly.

"Oh I see, so my mind was talking to you then? Or was it the mind of the phone?"

"I thought you were smart, _Mary_." He emphasized the nickname.

"I am, _Bible Boy_." She mocked.

"Well, if you were you would know that phones don't have minds. But, the phone still could have told me where it was."

"But, without a mind how could it talk? See phones don't talk, they just help carry the voices of people, who do." Rory replied very proud of herself.

"I—Uh, ah, okay fine, you win." Tristan said trying to sound sad and defeated, happy that she couldn't currently see the smile playing on his lips, giving him an advantage.

"YAY! And I know you are smiling, you can't fool me!" she smiled herself. "Tristan? Hello?" she heard the line go dead. _Uh oh, did I offend him? I was only kidding. _Seconds later the phone began to ring again.

"Tristan?" she asked immediately.

"Hey, how are you?"

"Why did you hang up?"

"Did _I_ do that?" he feigned innocent

"Yes _you _did that."

"Huh, funny"

"Tristan."

"I wanted to say hello."

Although Rory thought that was so sweet she still felt the need to make fun of him a little. "You needed to hang up to do that?" she questioned

"Well, yea, I had to start the conversation off like you are supposed to do when you answer the phone, like normal people."

"When have I or we for that matter, ever been normal?"

"Good point." He sounded slightly rejected. She felt bad for playing with him.

"Hey." She stated simply.

"Hey." He answered back.

"How ya been?"

"Fine I guess, missing you completely though." He said sweetly. "et toi?"

"Good and I miss you too."

"So what have you been up to this weekend?" he asked

"Well, since I had my last final on Friday" she paused "my mom decided that we needed to celebrate. We conned Luke into giving us extra coffee, and then on Saturday night my mom and I had a traditional movie night. Then today we went shopping and I got some really cute stuff, and some stuff the she forced me into buying. It's quite an adventure shopping with her. Oh I'm so excited about summer vacation, I can't wait." Rory said eagerly.

"Uh, ya, Rory" he paused. _Uh oh, he sounds really serious, or is he just trying to get me worried, that would be very Tristan _Rory thought, he then continued"about summer break…"

**AN: evil I know, but all part of my dazzling plan. Mwhahaha! Okay well the more people that review the faster I will update, I know that may not seem fair to those who always review and I don't mean to punish anyone. It is just that reviews keep my going and let me know people are actually reading it and what I'm doing wrong or right. Anyways please do your part and review and I'll do mine. Ciao. **


	20. This Chapter Intentionally Left Untitled

**AN: sorry it took so long, I won't bother with excuses. Basically I just haven't felt like writing much so yea. PLEASE REVIEW! **

_Recap:_

"_Well, since I had my last final on Friday" she paused "my mom decided that we needed to celebrate. We conned Luke into giving us extra coffee, and then on Saturday night my mom and I had a traditional movie night. Then today we went shopping and I got some really cute stuff, and some stuff the she forced me into buying. It's quite an adventure shopping with her. Oh I'm so excited about summer vacation, I can't wait." Rory said eagerly. _

"_Uh, ya, Rory" he paused. Uh oh, he sounds really serious, or is he just trying to get me worried, that would be very Tristan Rory thought, he then continued "about summer break…" _

"About summer break, you see my dad signed me up, without my knowledge let me add, for some summer program." Rory stayed silent not wanting his next sentence to come. "So I won't be able to come home for break." Tristan finished remorse and sorrow extremely evident in his voice.

After a moment of silence Rory finally spoke "At all?"

"I don't think so." Tristan replied sadly.

"Will I ever get to see you again?" Rory asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

"I'll make sure of it." Tristan said with as much confidence and assurance as he could.

"Good" was all Rory could manage to say.

After minutes of quiet Tristan said he had to go and they said their goodbyes. Rory flopped back onto her bed, deeply saddened by the news she had just received.

Tristan sighed deeply, inwardly cursing his father for doing this. He wanted to see Rory so badly and wasn't sure how much longer he could take it.

Unfortunately for both of them, the summer dragged on. The school year seemed to have gone by faster, which was rare. They continued with the letters and phone calls, which became more frequent. Tristan begged his father to let him quit the summer program or at least come home for the weekend but his father stood firm in the decision he had previously made.

It eventually became August and the new school year was just around the corner. Rory was excited for her senior year but still wished that Tristan could be there with her. She decided not to let his absence bring down her final year at Chilton though; she was going to enjoy it as much as she could.

It was August twenty ninth when Tristan got the call.

"Hello?" Tristan said into the phone

"Hello, son"

"Dad"

"I have some news"

"Yes?" Tristan questioned impatiently

"Since you seem to be doing well and gave little fuss about the summer program, I have arranged for you to return to Chilton for your senior year but you must behave or you will return to where you currently are, is that clear?"

Tristan didn't hear anything after his father said he was returning to Chilton.

"Tristan?"

"Yea?"

"Is that understood?"

"Perfectly" Tristan responded with ease, he was overjoyed.

"Ok well your plane leaves on the second, I expect you to be on it and I will arrange for you to be picked up at the airport."

"Okay"

"Goodbye, see you soon."

"Yeah, see you soon." Tristan responded dreamily, his thoughts on one particular brunette.

Tristan was about to call Rory to tell her the news when he had an even better idea. He headed back to his room and began to plot.

Back in starts hallow Rory was preparing for her final year at Chilton. School was due to start on the fifth and she had just received all the registration info. None of it was really import, it was more for the freshman. She found her locker assignment, the same as the previous year of course. They couldn't change everybody around every year because the locks were directly on the lockers. She looked over her schedule and it seemed correct so she went to find her mother and go to Luke's.

**First day of school: Chilton, senior year **

Tristan made sure to arrive at school extra early to get everything in its proper place.

When Rory arrived at school she went straight to her locker to put up a few pictures to jazz it up a little. When she opened it there sat a huge cup of coffee. She smiled widely though she was confused to how it could have gotten there. For a split second she wondered if it was him but quickly shook that thought away. As she picked up she noticed a message on the side.

_Take it, like you've taken my heart. _

Rory blushed, despite the fact that she was reading it to herself and Tristan smirked as he watched her from around the corner. She greedily drank the coffee before the bell sounded and she hurried off to class. She pulled out a notebook and pen as class began. As she opened the notebook an envelope fell out. It was pure white. She opened it up curiously. The cover of the card was completely white and there was a short messaged in bold black writing on the blinding white inside of the card.

_This card intentionally left blank _

That was all it said. Rory was more than a little confused. She put the card back in the envelope and turned the page of her notebook. There was a typed note.

_Check your locker again at break. _

Rory then couldn't focus for the rest of the period along with the next one. Tristan had been watching her from afar all day. He wore a hat and sunglasses with his coat collar up, trying to hide from the curios eyes of Chilton. In second period he sat in the back corner avoiding Rory so he wouldn't be noticed quite yet. When the bell finally rang Rory practically ran to her locker. She spun the combination and threw the door open. There was another white envelope. Inside was a note and another sealed envelope. On the note was a poem.

_Since the day I saw you  
As my eyes captured you  
The picture...stands still in my view  
They say a picture...  
Worth a thousand words  
But in front yours  
I was speechless_

_  
Your hair...never seen brighter  
Your eyes...a gateway to a new world  
Your smile...brings me to cheer  
Your lips...when you speak  
Ohh... That makes me weak_

_I stand watching  
Stealing the moments  
That ran so quickly  
As you start waving goodbye  
Your eyes met mine  
You gave it a smile  
For that moment  
My ocean ran dry...  
Cause maybe for just a second  
I've crossed your mind_

_I've searched for you  
Now... I know it's true  
I found that someone  
In you...  
My soul kept following you  
With my heart moving  
To the place you're walking to  
Until you vanished..._

_Until then...  
Your image leaves me not  
Thinking of you through the nights  
There is no place I'd rather be  
But my room...  
Dreaming about you and me_

_The beauty in you  
Drives me crazy  
As my emotions start to bleed  
I wish they know the way  
To land at your heart  
With you welcoming me  
Blowing the candles  
That can light my life  
With you...by my side_

_If fate was that kind...  
I am looking forward for the next time  
Praying to have the courage  
To hold you so tight  
With your smile inches away from mine  
Getting closer...  
Until at last  
Not apart..._

When she read the first stanza she got a feeling of de ja vu. She then opened the other envelope. It was a picture. On the front was a post-it note in very familiar handwriting.

_In case you haven't quite figured it out yet, here is an obvious clue. _

She pulled off the post-it and smiled. It was one of the few existing pictures of her and Tristan. They were sitting on the bench in front of the school, both smiling at the other. On the back it read.

_You render me speechless, but a picture is worth a thousand words so, it's like I'm rambling on and on. _

Rory spun around quickly and bumped into a firm sculpted chest. She looked up to meet a pair of amazing blue eyes. She didn't even get out a hello before his lips descended onto hers but she was more than happy to reply.

"hey" Tristan said when they finally broke apart.

"hey" she whispered back before crushing her lips to his once again. The bell sounded snapping them back to reality and out of their own perfect world. Damn bells. Rory now truly believed they had a conspiracy against her. Tristan grabbed Rory's hand and they walked off to class.

**AN: hope you liked the chapter please please please review!!!!**


	21. Which Way Is 'This Way?

**AN: I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter so much. I thought it was a little rushed but there was only so much I could have done with them apart so yea. Hope you all enjoy this one just as much. Please review! **

_Recap:_

_Rory spun around quickly and bumped into a firm sculpted chest. She looked up to meet a pair of amazing blue eyes. She didn't even get out a hello before his lips descended onto hers but she was more than happy to reply. _

"_Hey" Tristan said when they finally broke apart. _

"_Hey" she whispered back before crushing her lips to his once again. The bell sounded snapping them back to reality and out of their own perfect world. Damn bells. Rory now truly believed they had a conspiracy against her. Tristan grabbed Rory's hand and they walked off to class. _

As the rest of the day continued on both Rory and Tristan were in a state of pure bliss. They had a total of four classes together so both were pleased. He walked her to her sixth period class, one they sadly did not share, and reluctantly said goodbye.

It was finally Friday. The week had been wonderful. Tristan had come over everyday and they just enjoyed talking and getting to know every detail about the other. When their last class finally ended Rory expected to find Tristan waiting for her at her locker, but sadly he was absent from the spot. She spun the dial on her locker and opened it. Inside was yet another note. She quickly opened it.

_My dearest Mary, _

_I'm sure you are wondering why I am not currently with you as you exchange your books. I, however, have a wonderful explanation. You see I had to rush off to plan our first official date. Now don't hurt yourself from smiling to widely at this. I will pick you up at 5 tonight. Until then, I must bid you adieu. _

_With all my heart, _

_ Tristan _

Rory was of course smiling widely and then blushing at the fact that he knew this. He just seemed to know her so well. She finished exchanging her books and hurried out to catch her bus.

Tristan had never felt this way before. He had never cared what any one person thought of him. Well that wasn't entirely true; he just didn't care on the same level, or for the same reasons. He had never showed such a romantic side before, never felt the need for all the passionate and loving things. He didn't know why he was so cold before. Maybe it was because he was brought up in such a cold place, by such cold people, was surrounded by cold people, and taught cold things. He was never supposed to show his emotions or passions, it was a sign of weakness according to his father. But, he couldn't blame everything on his parents; mainly his father was the one who he accused of this. His mother just stood back and let the "king" take charge. He couldn't just choose a scapegoat and go on with life. This was something that had actual meaning and importance to him. This had to be perfect. He sighed. Really, he could only blame himself. He just didn't know what to do around her, he was always afraid he would offend her in some way. She really wasn't as fragile as he led himself to believe, she was actually a fairly sturdy girl, stood up for herself. There wasn't one single answer for any of this, there were tens, and hundreds even thousands of thoughts running through his mind. However, most of it boiled down to him being afraid, scared, worried, apprehensive and afraid a few hundred more times. He was scared, scared that she would reject him once realization hit her. He was worried about his friends hitting on her if they found out that they were dating or some twisted version that they had heard after it had been passed through Chilton's gossip mill. Afraid she wouldn't believe him when he told her he only wanted her. Afraid she would never trust him because of his player ways. Afraid he wasn't good enough for her. Afraid she would realize that. Afraid that she would think that he would sleep with her and then dump her, that is if they even got that far. Afraid that they would break up and he would never be able to heal. Afraid to make her cry again. Afraid, he would loose the only girl he ever loved, loves, and will love. Afraid that he would break, himself. So this had to be perfect, nothing less would do.

When Rory reached her front door, she almost tripped over a bouquet of roses lying in front of it. She carefully picked up and opened up what seemed like the hundredth card that day.

_Rory,_

_As much as I looked, I couldn't find anything to match your beauty, this is as close as I got. I will never stop loving you as long as the last rose lives. _

_ You hold my heart, _

_ Tristan_

A silent tear of joy ran down Rory's cheek. She couldn't help it, this was just so sweet. Everything he had done since he returned had been so romantic and sweet. She opened the door and headed to her room so she could finish her homework before Tristan arrived. As she entered her room she saw a fairly large, white box on her bed, and of course, another card. On the envelope of the card it read:

_I know it must seem like you have opened a hundred white envelopes but here is one more._

She opened the card and smiled.

_Tristan Dugray _

_Requests your presence _

_At five o'clock this evening_

_For the first official date of your relationship_

_Attire is formal (see box)_

_No need to R.S.V.P_

_(He knows the answer) _

Rory then proceeded to open the box. Her breath caught in her throat as she pulled out the dress. It was a white, strapless floor length gown, with beaded floral designs scattered about. Around the top, it was folded over revealing a strip of black silk. It was gorgeous. Rory laid it out on her bed and tried to get to work. It was very hard to concentrate and soon it was four and she had to start getting ready. She quickly showered and towel dried her hair. She scrunched it so it would be in loose waves. She slid into the gown and slipped a robe over it so she wouldn't get anything on it when she did her makeup.

At around four Tristan hopped into the shower after finally returning home. He put on his tux and left to go get Rory. As he was heading up to the door he hoped he was late enough.

Rory was just grabbing her purse and leaving a note for her mom when the doorbell rang. She glanced at the clock on the way to the door and it read 5:15, wow he new her well. She opened the door smiling as she took in his appearance.

When Tristan saw the beauty that was Rory he couldn't speak for a moment. She looked breathtakingly beautiful. "Hey, I hope I'm late enough."

"Yes, perfect timing Mr. Dugray."

"Thank you." He said smirking but it turned to a very sincere look as he spoke again "You look phenomenal, absolutely beautiful."

Rory couldn't help but blush and then tried to smirk as she said "you clean up quite well yourself." It turned into a genuine smile.

Tristan held his arm out and Rory gladly accepted. She linked her arm through his as he led her down the porch. Waiting for them was a black limo.

"Oh, Tristan, you didn't have to."

"Yes, I did. Tonight must be perfect."

"Then all you had to do was show up." Tristan actually blushed at this, which unfortunately for him, did not go unnoticed by Rory. "So you can blush! I got to you! Ha!" Rory said jokingly.

"Honey, you are already under my skin." he replied as they slid into the limo.

"So where are we going?"

"The information is confidential"

"Oh come on."

"If I told you I would have to kill you," he smirked "and then all my planning would go to waste."

"But if I'm going to find out eventually then why would you have to kill me if I found out just a little bit sooner?"

Tristan, of course, had a response for this "because, you see, you have to find out at precisely the right moment. If you knew now, then when we reached our destination, then you wouldn't be as shocked and it might not have the same affect. And plus, this way, you'll be all huffy because I'm not telling you, but when we arrive, it will all be forgotten." He added the last part smugly.

"Humph" was all Rory had to say.

He put his arm around her and pulled her close. "You'll find out soon enough, and it will be worth it. I promise."

She turned to face him and he took the opportunity to kiss her softly. The car came to a stop and before Tristan lead Rory out of the car he pulled out a blindfold.

"I'm sorry, but you are going to have to wear this."

"Why?" Rory asked dubiously

"You will understand soon, just please put it on."

"Why?" Rory whined like a four year old.

"Just trust me okay?" he gave her a quick kiss.

"Okay"

Tristan tied the blindfold over her eyes and took her hand.

"Okay, just follow my lead"

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Rory saluted, but lost her footing and tripped, only to be caught just in time by Tristan's strong arms. He couldn't help but chuckle. "And what exactly is so funny Mr.?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." He said, stifling a laugh. "Come on, this way."

"Considering I can't see, I don't know which way 'this way' is." Rory said logically.

He took her hand and led her to the spot he had set up that afternoon. He helped her sit down.

"Can I take the blindfold off now?"

"Just one second." He responded, lighting the last few candles.

"Now?" she asked after a minute

"Yes, now."

**AN: I hope you all enjoyed, because I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW! **


	22. Simply Perfect

**AN: Hey, sorry this took so long, I have just been busy and I was hoping more reviews would suddenly appear hint hint lol anyways here is the next installment, please REVIEW!**

She slipped the blindfold off and gasped at the site before her. She sat by the edge of a footbridge. Tristan had set up a picnic per say. He had spread out a blanket and lit candles and even spread rose petals around the perimeter of the area. Music played in the background.

"Is this okay?" Tristan asked unsure, considering she had been silent for a few minutes.

"Is this okay? Tristan, this is, this is…perfect."

"Just like you." He said helping her to stand up. "May I have this dance?" he asked as _True Companion _by Marc Cohn began to waft through the speakers.

"It would be my pleasure." As they danced the sun began to set in the background. It really was perfect.

_Baby I've been searching like everybody else _

_Can't say nothing different about myself _

_Sometimes I'm an angel _

_And sometimes I'm cruel _

_And when it comes to love _

_I'm just another fool _

_Yes, I'll climb a mountain _

_I'm gonna swim the sea _

_There ain't no act of God girl _

_Could keep you safe from me _

_My arms are reaching out _

_Out across this canyon _

_I'm asking you to be my true companion _

_True companion _

_True companion _

_So don't you dare and try to walk away _

_I've got my heart set on our wedding day _

_I've got this vision of a girl in white _

_Made my decision that it's you allright _

_And when I take your hand _

_I'll watch my heart set sail _

_I'll take my trembling fingers _

_And I'll lift up your veil _

_Then I'll take you home _

_And with wild abandon _

_Make love to you just like a true companion _

_You are my true companion _

_I got a true companion _

_True companion _

_When the years have done irreparable harm _

_I can see us walking slowly arm in arm _

_Just like the couple on the corner do _

_'Cause girl I will always be in love with you _

_And when I look in your eyes _

_I'll still see that spark _

_Until the shadows fall _

_Until the room grows dark _

_Then when I leave this Earth _

_I'll be with the angels standin' _

_I'll be out there waiting for my true companion _

_Just for my true companion _

_True companion _

_True companion_

After dancing for a while they sat down and ate the meal Tristan had brought for them. Instead of bringing some fancy dish, he brought take-out Chinese. At this, Rory grinned. She was amazed at how well he knew her after such a short period of time. It soon became dark. They lay there snuggled under a blanket, surrounded by blankets and staring at the stars. Well at least Rory was, Tristan was staring more at Rory. She finally turned and met his gaze.

"What?" she questioned softly.

"Nothing, just admiring the beauty next to me" he replied, staring at her intensely. She slowly leaned in and he finished closing the gap. At first it was a slow kiss, but soon it became hungry and more passionate. He slid his tongue over her bottom lip asking for entrance. She quickly obliged, giving him complete access to her mouth. He soon began to trail kisses down her neck and she let out a moan. He traced his way back up to her lips. They finally broke apart and he leaned his forehead against hers and let out a contented sigh. They sadly realized the time and began to pack up. He stood up and reached out his hand, she gladly took it, and he twirled her into an upright position.

When they reached her house, he led her out of the limo once more and walked her to her door.

"Thank you Tristan, it really was perfect." She kissed him softly on the lips. "Goodnight." And with that she opened the door, and went inside. Tristan got back into the car and headed home, smiling all the way.

As soon as Rory entered the kitchen Lorelai bounded in following behind her all too closely as Rory prepared the coffee maker. When she was done she snapped around to face her mother.

"How may I help you?"

"By telling me all the juicy details of your date" Lorelai squealed excitedly.

Rory, knowing she would never win, conceded and began to give Lorelai the play by play of her wonderful date.

"Oh Mom, it was perfect, simply perfect."

"Aw honey, you really like him don't you?"

"Yea, I guess you could say that." Rory said smirking.

"Eek!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"What?"

"He is so rubbing off on you!"

"What? What did I do?"

"You smirked." Lorelai said simply

"So? Just because Tristan happens to have a confident, sexy smirk doesn't mean he is the only one that can smirk. Other people smirk and they aren't always trying to mimic him." Rory rambled

"So you think his smirk is sexy?"

"Mom!"

"What? You're words not mine."

"I'm going to bed now."

"Okay, okay, night sweetie."

"Night mom"

Rory floated to her room in a daze as she replayed the evening's events in her head for what seemed like the hundredth time. She slowly changed into her pajamas and carefully hung up the dress. She grabbed the book off her nightstand and settled into bed. Right as she got the pillows into the perfect smushed position her phone began to sing. Sighing she reached over to answer it and make the incessant ringing stop.

"Hello?"

"Hey" she instantly recognized his husky voice.

"Hi" she said again

"You want to get into a vicious cycle or can I choose some new words now?" he joked

"Hmm" she said pretending to give it great thought "I guess new words are allowed."

"Good. I had a great time tonight."

"Yeah, me too."

"What are you doing now?"

"Talking to you"

"Oh, come on, don't be a smart ass"

Rory laughed her sweet laugh "I was reading in bed, and had the pillows in the perfect smushed position but then the stupid phone began to ring so I was forced to move to end the insistent ringing. Better?"

"Yes, sorry my call was such an inconvenience, I'll try not to interrupt you when you have the pillows 'in a perfect smushed position' maybe next time you could send a smoke signal so I can be aware of your pillow situation before I attempt to call."

"I'll work on that." They both laughed

"So I was thinking,"

"Uh oh, you didn't start any fires did you?" Rory quipped; it was nice how easily they fell into flirty banter.

"Ha-Ha, very funny, but seriously…"

"Right okay, serious now" Rory mocked in a deep voice

"Rory!"

"Okay, okay I'll be good, serious now."

"Okay, well, tomorrow night some of my friends and I were thinking of going to The Velvet Room for a bit, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"Uh, well, you see—"

"What?"

"I don't think I can."

"Oh okay…" she could hear the dejection in his voice

"What time?" Rory asked

Tristan perked up at this "About 9, I'll pick you up around 8:30?"

"Sure, sounds—actually, how about I meet you at that cute little coffee shop by your house at 8 and then we can head to the club from there."

"Ok, I'll see you then. You'll have fun, I promise"

"I'm sure, Night Tristan"

"Goodnight Mary, sweet dreams." And with that they both hung up and drifted off to sleep.


	23. Be My Lover

**AN: sorry for the wait, I wrote about 5 pages for this chapter right after I wrote the last one but it happened to be the middle section so I couldn't post it until I had the beginning and I just haven't had the time. Also when it was actually ready, my internet wasn't working, it was very sad. Anyways thank you sooo much to all who reviewed, a lot of them were just so nice (for lack or a better word). They reminded me why I continue to write this story. And for those who said they never want this story to end, at the rate I keep coming up with much later chapters I'm afraid I might never be able to bring this story to a close completely. Oh, I just realized that the lines I put between the recaps or sections of the story haven't been showing up and I apologize for that (also the email addresses from earlier chapters, I will get those to work sometime!) so I will be trying ulterior ways to divide sections. Anyways enough of my rambling and on with the story…**

"_Okay, well, tomorrow night some of my friends and I were thinking of going to The Velvet Room for a bit, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me." _

"_Uh, well, you see—"_

"_What?"_

"_I don't think I can."_

"_Oh okay…" she could hear the dejection in his voice_

"_What time?" Rory asked_

_Tristan perked up at this "About 9, I'll pick you up around 8:30?" _

"_Sure, sounds—actually, how about I meet you at that cute little coffee shop by your house at 8 and then we can head to the club from there."_

"_Ok, I'll see you then. You'll have fun, I promise"_

"_I'm sure, Night Tristan"_

"_Goodnight Mary, sweet dreams." And with that they both hung up and drifted off to sleep. _

"Mom!" Rory yelled as she tossed yet another shirt over her shoulder as she rummaged through her wardrobe "I have nothing to wear!"

"Okay, now I know that's not true." Lorelai remarked as she entered Rory's room and attempted to sit on the bed that was now covered in clothes.

"Nothing, I have nothing, zip, zero, nada…nothing!"

"Come on" Lorelai said grabbing Rory's arm.

"Hey, watch it; I'm trying to get ready…" Rory tried to explain as her mother dragged her out of her room towards the closet. "Now, _I know_ there is nothing in there" Rory exclaimed matching Lorelai's previous statement when she claimed she had no clothes.

Lorelai ignored Rory's attempts of reasoning with her and went on to explain "you remember at the end of the school year when we went shopping?"

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific Mom"

"The time when you were all excited about Tristan coming for the summer and we went to get you new summer clothes which after you found out he wasn't coming refused to wear, do you remember now?"

"Yea, but I though I told you to return them…" Rory trailed off once realization dawned on her. "You didn't return them did you?"

"No" Lorelai replied sheepishly "_but,_ now you have something to wear." She finished with a sing song voice.

"Uh Mom, in case you didn't notice, it's not summer?" Rory attempted reasoning once again but to no avail. Lorelai continued to rummage through the closet in search of the bags.

"Eureka!" Lorelai exclaimed as she struck gold "I found it" she said as she held something behind her back.

"Mom, what do you have there?" Rory questioned as she tried to peek behind her mother's back.

"Okay, before you go yelling 'no way' just let me paint a picture for you…" Rory gave her a skeptical look but okayed let her continue nonetheless. "Okay good. Your black denim hip-huggers, this top" Lorelai explained as she pulled it out from behind her back. It was the red halter top with a severely low cut neckline "and—"

Rory cut her off "No," she tried to say

"Hey, you said I could finish explaining my plan first"

"Fine, finish, but I doubt you are going to convince me not matter how good your persuasive skills are." Rory said stubbornly.

A half hour later Rory stood in front of her mirror in her black denim hip huggers and red halter. Lorelai had given Rory silver chandelier style earrings and a matching necklace to help divert attention from the plunging neckline. Her hair was down and curled to perfection. Her eyes smoky, due to Lorelai's expert make-up applying skills, and her lips glossed lightly. She gave herself a once over and then left her room for her mom's approval. As she exited the room she was met with catcalls and whistling from her eccentric mother.

"Okay…I'm changing now"

"No, honey, you looks fabulous, completely hot, Tristan will be at a loss for words." Just then the doorbell rang. "You go get you purse and throw on your shoes, I'll get the door." Lorelai swung the door open "Hey Bible-boy, come on in"

"Thanks Lorelai, so got any big plans for the night?"

"I'm thinking take-out and a movie, the usual"

"Sounds fun…" he trailed off as Rory exited her room, fiddling with the clasp of her necklace.

"Mom, could you help me with this" Rory said walking over to Lorelai

"Sure honey"

"Hey, Tristan"

"Hi" Tristan barely got out, he truly was at a loss for words. Rory turned to face him.

"You ready to go?" she questioned

"Uh, yea, right, go, lets" he said attempting to string a sentence together

"See I told you" Lorelai whispered in Rory's ear as she left

Tristan and Rory were walking down the stairs of the porch towards his car as he again endeavored to create a coherent sentence.

"You look, uh, you're, you—wow"

"Uh thanks, I think" Rory said unsurely but, blushed nonetheless

"You look amazing, as always" he said regaining composure as he leaned in to place a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you" she said returning the kiss

They got in the car and headed to the _Velvet Room_. Rory was told they were meeting his friends there. That was why she was skeptical about this little adventure. She was never too comfortable around his "posse" and found them to be rude, discriminating, and just flat out heartless. As they entered the club with great ease she wondered how she fit into Tristan's life. The life she supposed was filled with drinking, many a club like this one, meaningless sex, and flings. The life of the cold, heartless elite who were believed to be superior because, they had money and seemed happy and content as if on top of the word. She would never fit into that nor, did she want to. She just didn't know how willing Tristan was to leave that life for her. She didn't know that he wanted to escape and that she could help him do so. She was snapped out of her thoughts as they neared the table at which Tristan's friends occupied.

"Hey guys, you know Rory right?" there were a few mumbled yeahs and sures

"Hey Rory, glad you could join us" Brian, Tristan's only true friend, supplied kindly as he stuck out his hand. Rory placed her hand in his and Brian kissed it lightly. Rory, of course, blushed and her gaze fell to the floor momentarily. Tristan sensed that she was a bit uncomfortable and uneasy about this outing and so he loosely placed his arm around her waste to help reassure her.

They sat down and began to talk to the others for a bit. Well, it was more like Rory watched the others cautiously while Tristan talked.

"Would you like to dance?" Tristan asked Rory

"Oh, well uh, I don't really, uh dance."

"Come on, it will be fun"

"Let me rephrase my statement, I can't dance."

"I'm sure that's not true, everybody can dance." Stephanie, Brian's girlfriend, replied. After a pointed look from Rory she added "Hey, I never said everybody can dance well. But, I'm sure you're much better than you think you are."

"Well, I guess—" before she even got out her sentence she was pulled into a standing position and Tristan along with Stephanie and Brian were leading her to the dance floor. After a few minutes Rory started to loosen up a little.

"See, I told you that you could dance!" Stephanie exclaimed before making her way through the crowd with Brian. The two of them were among the few that actually believed Tristan when he claimed Rory was different, and that knew the whole story.

A group of girls were slowly making their way towards Tristan and Rory. They had spotted the sexy blonde and were inching closer and closer. They butted in while Tristan and Rory were dancing and soon Rory got tired of them pushing her out of the way so she headed back to the table she was at earlier.

Rory sat at a table playing with the cap of her water bottle (she hadn't trusted any other drinks there). A group of Tristan's friends came over and sat down at the various open seats at the table. They ordered some tequila shots and the waitress didn't seem to think anything of it because she was too busy throwing herself at a few of them. Rory, however, kept glancing back at the dance floor.

"Want one?" Mark, one of Tristan's friends, asked

His voice broke Rory out of her trance. "No, thanks, I'm good"

"Ok, suit yourself."

After a few more minutes of staring at Tristan and some girl dance she reached across the table and grabbed one of the shots and downed it.

"Yeah!" some of the guys yelled

Rory got up off the stool she had been perched upon and walked over to the DJ and whispered something to him.

When the song ended Tristan went over to the table he spied his friends still occupying.

Meanwhile Rory went over to one of the guys dancing and whispered something in his ear and he nodded in agreement.

"Hey, guys. Have you seen Rory?" Tristan asked

"She was just here; she drank a shot and then got up and left. It was kind of awesome man." Josh said

"What?"

"Dude, relax." Brian said as he saw Tristan's jaw clench. Tristan of course was thinking it had been his friend's influence that made her do such a thing.

_La da da dee da da da da _

_La da da dee da da da da _

_La da da dee da _

_La da da da dee da _

_La da da dee da da da da da_

The beginnings of a song came over the stereo system.

"Did you see where she went?" Tristan yelled over the loud music.

Just then Brian saw Rory get up on one of the podiums by the stage where people sometimes got up on to dance.

"Uh, Tristan, you might want to turn around."

_Be my lover _

_Wanna be me lover…_

The song continued…

Tristan slowly turned around to see Rory upon one of the podiums dancing and singing along with the song.

_Looking back on all the time we spent together _

_You oughta know right now if you wanna be my lover _

_Wanna be my lover _

_Go ahead and take your time, boy you gotta feel secure _

_Before I make you mine, baby, you have to be sure _

_You wanna be my lover, wanna be my lover, wanna be my lover _

"Oh my god!" Tristan breathed out. This was so un-Rory. As the music continued to pump out, Rory continued to sing and dance.

_La da da dee da da da da _

_La da da dee da da da da _

_La da da dee da _

_La da da da dee da _

_La da da dee da da da da da_

_A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover _

_A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover _

_A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover _

_A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover _

Just when Tristan thought it was over some guy got up there with her and started to rap.

_Rap_

_I must confess _

_Girl, yes, I wanna be your lover _

_Take a chance, my love is like no other _

As the guy sang the next line, Rory dipped down low in a sexy movement and popped up put her arms on his shoulders and leaned backwards. Her right foot directly behind his left and her left foot resting against her thigh; her knee was leaning against the guys leg.

_On the dancefloor getting down _

_Hold tight, Ill never let you down _

_My love is definitely the key _

_Like Boyz II Men Im on bended knee _

_Loving you, not like your brother, aw yeah _

_I wanna be your lover _

As Rory began to sing again she began to walk sexily towards him in a chase-like movement.

_I hear what you say, I see what you do _

_I know everything I need to know about you _

_And I want you to know that its telling me _

_You wanna be my lover _

They switched roles and the unnamed guy was now walking towards her.

_Oh be my lover yeeeeehhhh. _

_Until the end of time, wont you be mine on mine,_

_Oh be my lover, I know you wanna be my love, I know you wanna be miiine._

_Oh be my lover, yeeehhhh._

When the song ended Rory hugged the guy and whispered thanks in his ear. The whole club broke into cheers and began to clap. Rory blushed and curtseyed in a very over the top way, pulling out her imaginary skirt. She was laughing happily the whole time.

Tristan was still at the table, completely flabbergasted. Not only that, as much as he hated to admit it, he was utterly jealous of the unnamed guy Rory had been dancing with. Even despite the fact that after the dance they parted ways. Rory headed over to the bar to get another bottle of water and then headed in the general direction of the table she had previously sat at. A few people had stopped her on her way to say "that was awesome" or something along those lines. As she approached the table all the guys (except Tristan) hollered and whooped and the girls just laughed along saying words of praise. Tristan just stared at her as she sat down and took a sip of her water. After a few minutes Rory couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you going to speak or just stand there and stare at my ear like you get caught doing in class? Is it really that fascinating?" Rory snapped. It came out a little harsher than she had intended though.

The others at the table ooohed as Tristan just stood there astounded.

"Are you okay?" Tristan finally questioned.

"Me? Oh I'm peachy keen." Rory smiled just too sweetly. "Why would you think there is something wrong?" Rory asked innocently, tilting her head to the side. She patiently awaited a reply.

"Well, uh, you just—"

"I just what?"

"Did that!" Tristan motioned towards the platform.

"What's your point?"

"It was just," he paused and glanced at his so called friends "can we go outside for a minute?" he said returning his gaze to her.

"Whatever you have to say you can say right here." Rory said stubbornly.

"Fine." He took a deep breath. "First of all, you didn't even want to come here—"

Rory cut him off right there before he could continue. "And that means I'm not allowed to have a good time? Is that it? You promised me a good time and I was just making the best of it. Oh I see you're—"

"That's not what I meant, just let me finish." He paused and got no response so he took it as a cue to continue. "Once we got here, I had to force you to dance. But, once you got out there you seemed to be enjoying yourself. So some other people come and dance with us and I turn around and you're gone, but I figured you just wanted a drink or something so I continued to dance. I didn't think it would upset you…"

"Oh my god! You think very highly of yourself don't you? I always knew you could be very self-centered and arrogant but come on! You just assume I did what I did because I was mad at you or out of retaliation? Tristan, not everything revolves around you! I just figured if you could have a good time here then why couldn't I? So, yea, maybe I was a little jealous but so what? That's normal. I just got tired of sitting here with these people," she motioned towards his friends who looked offended by that statement "staring at you dancing with some girls who were obviously throwing themselves at you. Then I look over at your friends and they are all laughing having a good time, and I realize something. I am the only one in here who isn't. So, I decide to do something about it. I drink a shot, something I have never done and frankly, don't really want to again because I found it disgusting, but I did it. And then I figured, everyone on the dance floor looks happy and carefree and I'm tired of being thought of as the perfect little miss innocent who never does anything blithe and carefree so I decide to go for it and so I get up there" she motioned towards the podium "and dance like I never have before and just let go. And I have to say, it felt pretty damn good. So I guess I should say thank you, because, if it hadn't been for you I would have never done that, so thanks. Now if you all would excuse me, I think I should be going now." And with that parting note she got up and walked out of the club.

**AN: and there ya have it folks, lol, well this is the longest chapter I have ever written, done get to used to it though. I am trying to make them longer than the first few and they have been about 5-6 pages in Microsoft word opposed to the 2-3 paged ones that I previously wrote. I'm attempting to keep them _at least_ 5 so yeah (this one was 9!). Ok well I hope you enjoyed and now please review! Also I really want to change the title of the story, when got the idea for it I had another plan that I now have no recollection of so it doesn't really fit, if you have any objections/ideas/or any comments about that either email me or leave it in a review!**


	24. Truly, Truly

**AN: I am so dreadfully sorry for the long, long, long delay. My computer was very sick and I couldn't even get it to turn on properly. I would have just continued on another computer but I already had part of this chapter written and I wanted to use it. I'm about to finish typing this chapter (by the time you read this it will be posted but yea…) but, my internet, once again, is not working, I will post it ASAP though. Anyways after the long wait I'm sure you would rather I just get on with the story…**

_Recap: _

"_That's not what I meant, just let me finish." He paused and got no response so he took it as a cue to continue. "Once we got here, I had to force you to dance. But, once you got out there you seemed to be enjoying yourself. So some other people come and dance with us and I turn around and you're gone, but I figured you just wanted a drink or something so I continued to dance. I didn't think it would upset you…" _

"_Oh my god! You think very highly of yourself don't you? I always knew you could be very self-centered and arrogant but come on! You just assume I did what I did because I was mad at you or out of retaliation? Tristan, not everything revolves around you! I just figured if you could have a good time here then why couldn't I? So, yea, maybe I was a little jealous but so what? That's normal. I just got tired of sitting here with these people," she motioned towards his friends who looked offended by that statement "staring at you dancing with some girls who were obviously throwing themselves at you. Then I look over at your friends and they are all laughing having a good time, and I realize something. I am the only one in here who isn't. So, I decide to do something about it. I drink a shot, something I have never done and frankly, don't really want to again because I found it disgusting, but I did it. And then I figured, everyone on the dance floor looks happy and carefree and I'm tired of being thought of as the perfect little miss innocent who never does anything blithe and carefree so I decide to go for it and so I get up there" she motioned towards the podium "and dance like I never have before and just let go. And I have to say, it felt pretty damn good. So I guess I should say thank you, because, if it hadn't been for you I would have never done that, so thanks. Now if you all would excuse me, I think I should be going now." And with that parting note she got up and walked out of the club. _

Rory sat down on the bench outside for a few minutes to collect herself.

_**Inside: **_

"Sorry man," Brian said, placing a hand on Tristan's shoulder as the rest of the lot just "oohed."

"Don't "sorry" me yet" Tristan said lamely as he ran out of the club.

Rory saw Tristan push open the door and walk over to her. He sat down beside her and Rory scooted all the way to the opposite end of the bench, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

"Ror…" Tristan began

"No, Tristan, just save it. Go back inside and have fun with number 368 and 369." Rory snapped back

"Excuse me?"

"Oh I'm sorry, are you into the 500's already?"

Tristan soon caught her point "hey, I know you're mad at me right now but, that was a really low blow, especially for you." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He was supposed to be sucking up to her and so far, it wasn't going so well. "I'm really sorry for whatever I did, really, I know it must have been painful to watch, but please just let me give you a ride home—"

"There you go swaggering on again. Painful to watch? Come on, you know this is about more than that."

"Come on, I'll drive you home and we can talk."

"No thank you" Rory said shortly. "Please," she paused "just leave me alone. I'll be fine, I'm a big girl."

"How to you plan on getting home then?"

"I'll…I'll call a cab" Rory stated firmly. "Oh, what's that stupid number…" Rory muttered to herself, though Tristan heard loud and clear.

"Ror…" Tristan begged "Come on"

"No, geeze what's the fucking cab number. 1-800 cabs..." Rory trailed off tears trickling down her face.

Tristan was surprised by the words that just came out of her house, he never heard her use language like that. "Mary" he tried

"No, don't start, just…just go." Reluctantly, Tristan finally obeyed and went back inside the club, feeling extremely dejected.

_**Inside once again **_

As Tristan heads back over to the table Stephanie walks up beside him. "You get you ass moving and make sure you are their before we are."

"What?" Tristan asks, confused.

"I'll go talk to her, to stall for a bit and then give her a ride home. Meanwhile you will be speeding to her house with some romantic gesture. I'm guessing your little chat with her didn't go to well so you will need to fix this ASAP!" Tristan just stood there staring at her. "GO!" Stephanie yelled.

"Right, I'm gone" Tristan said as he ran out the door.

_**Tristan's Car**_

Tristan is frantically flipping through his CD case as he is stopped at a red light. He takes a CD out of the stereo and throws it onto the seat on top of a huge stack. He puts in another one and flips through the tracks as the light changes to green. "Ah hah!" he yells to no one in particular as track 13 comes on.

_**Rory**_

After talking with Stephanie for a while, the two girls left, heading towards Stars Hallow. Rory thanked Stephanie for the ride and the talk and heads up the stairs of the porch. She hears music pouring through the open windows and cautiously opens the front door.

_I was hanging with some friends _

_One night near the summer's end_ …

Rory steps into the living room and sees the coffee table completely covered with Luke's coffee cups. Just then Tristan enters the room singing into a wooden spoon.

_Made me think about us_

_Made me think about us_

_Truly, truly, truly I want you _

_Truly, truly, truly I do _

"You can't do this." Rory states simply

"Do what?" Tristan questions turning down the music.

"break into my house, bring in lots and lots of the best coffee" Rory stares dreamily and the coffee "pick a song that so perfectly matches the one from the club" Rory blushes at this "and be all sexy, cute, and innocent and" she pauses "and get me to forgive you."

"I can't?" Tristan says tilting his head sheepishly to one side and stepping feverishly close to Rory.

"No…" Rory breathes out

"Well, you see I didn't break into your house, your mom let me in. I'm glad I picked the right song, and I would hope I did considering the fact that I searched through CD after CD the whole time I was speeding to your house. And, you thing I'm being all sexy, cute and innocent?"

"Speeding is bad…" Rory states trying to stay cool despite Tristan's close proximity

"You didn't answer my question"

"What question?" Rory asks, feigning innocence.

"You thing I'm being all sexy, cute and innocent?"

"Yea…" she reluctantly admits, knowing she will never live it down. "But, you are also making a complete fool of yourself" she adds.

"Anything for you, Mary" he replies, smirking as the nickname leaves his lips.

"hey, you better watch it, you never want to jump while on this ice."

"I'll take my chances, I like to live dangerously." Tristan whispers gruffly into her ear.

"yeah?"

"yeah…" he whispers before his lips finally meet hers. Little did they know about the little red light shinning from the stairway…

**AN: Short I know, but I just had to end it here. Mwhahaha, so I hope you all enjoyed, please, please, please review! And I still haven't gotten any feedback on the whole title change thing. I was thinking maybe _Never Say Goodbye For Good or The Bell's Conspiracy or _something to do with rain (which will be explained later so yea) tell me your thoughts please! **


	25. AN! VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT

**AN: Here's the thing: I have gone to update this story multiple times and each and every time I've come up with nothing. I keep bringing it closed. All the ideas I have are for much later so I'm going to bring this story to a close or call it done. Please, please, please let me know if you think I should add a final chapter or if I can just leave it as is. Sorry this is just an AN. I know I hate it when people do this because I would get all excited a story was updated and the realize it was just the author rambling on. So anyways, I'm almost done with a one parter (amazingly enough I think I can leave it as that, I never can write short stories) and it should be up soon. Also that story could be turned into a multi-chapter thing where I could incorporate the random chapters I have written (stuff I supposed would happen at one point or another) so I won't be disappearing. So let me know ASAP and I will post my one parter maybe more story ASAP as well. Sorry about this one and the long wait. **


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